When is "foreign aid" not foreign aid? When it is debt written off by governments that should never have lent it in the first place.

The latest figures on rich nations' overseas development spending, released yesterday by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, show aid continuing to creep higher, increasing by 4.6 per cent in real terms in 2004. Although legitimate questions remain about poor countries' capacity to absorb the vast amounts of aid money for which some advocates are calling, there is little doubt that a sustained increase is justified.