Stronger focus urged to help rural poor
Calls are being made for greater help to be extended to poorer communities in rural areas, amid concerns that rural regions in developing countries are being neglected with regard to ongoing aid efforts.A new report from the National Audit Office (NAO) makes the point that rural poverty must be a key area of focus in tackling poverty if the Department for International Development (DFID) is to meet its targets.Experts at the NAO claim that rural areas need to be concentrated on in light of estimates that two-thirds of the world's poorest people will live in rural areas by 2015.To help those who are most vulnerable and work towards stemming poverty on an international scale the NAO urges focus on rural areas, calling for heavier investment in these operations and greater research efforts into specific retail needs.NAO head Sir John Bourn stresses that growing trends towards urbanisation in developing nations will not necessarily resolve the problems facing rural communities."Despite urbanisation, the majority of the world's poorest people still live in rural settings," he stated."DFID must continue its good work providing much needed aid to developing countries, but with a stronger focus on the most vulnerable people in rural areas."DFID maintains that efforts are already being made to tackle poverty in rural and urban parts of the world, investing millions of pounds in infrastructural developments and other initiatives.The body also highlights the fact that the UK is currently spending more on aid than in the past, with £4.6 billion worth of spending this year.
Share this..
Related stories
Business confidence 'at record high'
Optimism levels among UK firms are at their highest in 15 years, a new survey has claimed.The balance of businesses reporting high levels of confidence versus a more pessimistic outlook during the last six months stands at plus 41 per cent, Lloyds TSB claims.According to the bank, in the half-year since January the same proportion of firms said that sales had increased.In Lloyds TSB Corporate Mark...
Read MoreHSBC looking to help first-time buyers
HSBC has today announced additional funding of £500 million which will be targeted at the first-time buyer market, an area of the UK mortgage market which has remained an outcast for some time. This follows an earlier move by the bank to inject a further £1 billion in loans to customers who were unable to raise deposits of more than 10%.
While the move has been well received by po...
Airline industry under more pressure
In an amazing development bookmaker Paddy Power has begun to take bets on which airline will be next to fall by the wayside. The well-known bookmaker has slashed the odds on Monarch, a privately owned Swiss airline, from 50/1 to 4/1 making it the favourite to fall by the wayside in the short term. However, the company has denied any financial trouble and criticised Paddy Power for running a book o...
Read MoreConfusion over public sector spending
Despite the fact that Gordon Brown and his fellow MPs in the government appeared set to reduce public sector spending and promised to reduce recruitment drives in the short to medium term, Hayes, the U.K.'s largest recruitment company, believes the public sector will help keep the company on track in the short to medium term. These comments came as the company announced a 43% fall in profits to £...
Read MoreRoyal Bank of Scotland insists bonuses will be paid
The Royal Bank of Scotland has today confirmed a loss of £1 billion at the halfway stage for 2009 and sought to clarify the situation regarding staff bonuses. Despite the fact that the bank made a loss in the first half there are many large "guaranteed" bonuses to be paid even though the bank is 70% owned by UK taxpayers and being propped up by the UK government in other ways.
If t...