G8 at Gleneagles: new money?

The White House is clear that it did not agree to any additional aid for Africa in Gleneagles.

Here is an extract from the transcript of the press briefing, given on Air Force One on the way home, by Faryar Shirzad, the Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics. He’s also the United States G8 Sherpa (that is, the official responsible for representing the President in the run-up to the summit).

Q I believe there was an agreement on Africa aid to go up to $50 billion — was it $50 million or — does the administration support that, because I know in the past the President didn’t want a specific number agreed to.

MR. SHIRZAD: It’s a good question. The question had to do with that there was a $50 billion aid commitment to Africa. What the document reflected was a — what the leaders’ text reflected was that the individual G8 countries, as well as the European Union, had together committed to increase aid by $25 billion in a year to Africa. So there wasn’t a new commitment reflected in the text, but it was an articulation of previous commitments that were already made. …

Q So there’s no promise of new money from the U.S. in that statement.

MR. SHIRZAD: No, I think what that portion of the leaders’ text was supposed to highlight is that while the leaders came to Gleneagles to press the issue of Africa, there’s also a broader development challenge that they reflected in their leaders’ text, and that is the challenge that the OECD has, in their estimation, said they expect development assistance will increase by $50 billion. So it’s not a commitment, but it’s a reflection of an outside estimate that’s been made on that issue.