ANALYSIS OF U. S. FOREIGN AID DETERMINANTS FOR 2003

Many countries throughout the world face the problem of providing the basic benefits of government to their citizens. There are many factors that could lead to this major problem including: corruption within the government, poor tax system, badly devised budgets, or the low income of the citizens does not provide enough revenue for the government to operate efficiently. There are several ways that more developed nations set out to help these countries. The United States is the largest provider of foreign aid in the world with roughly $16.3 million contributed in 2003 (OECD). Although aid is given for the purpose of developmental assistance, the process often becomes politicized. This has been observed most recently in an incident in Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyzstani government chose to evict a key U.S. military base due to political pressure from Russia. Russia offered the Kyrgyz a $2 billion loan and $150 million in aid, roughly forty times more than the current U.S. level of aid (Harding). How does the U.S. determine its foreign aid distribution?