Dollars, Dialogue and Development

Whilst most aid is intended to finance specific undertakings– such as rehabilitating a hospital, constructinga feeder road or providing expert assistance to the Ministryof Finance – a significant proportion of the aidprogramme is not linked to specific projects. Such aid iscalled programme aid (PA), which is associated with achievingeconomic growth, often through the intermediateobjective of supporting reforms. There are three differentmodalities of PA: import support and debt relief,together known as balance of payments support, andbudget support.1 Three major actors are involved inSwedish PA: Sida and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs,who disburse PA, and the Ministry of Finance whohandles the contacts with the World Bank and the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF).