Given the totemic status attached to the United Nations’ target for rich countries to donate 0.7 per cent of their national income in overseas aid, governments might feel they are being told: never mind the quality, feel the width. But complaints from poor countries are frequently about the predictability and efficiency of aid, as much as its quantity.

Last week’s annual report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Paris-based intergovernmental policy institute that acts as a global aid watchdog, reviewed an international drive towards making assistance more substantive and efficient. The OECD’s verdict was that the campaign has a fair way to go.