Aid disbursement delays: Measures, causes, solutions

Aid disbursement delays are a significant problem for donors and partner governments around the world, yet there appear to be no agreed definitions or measurement criteria, very little data and hardly any coverage in the literature on development aid. This article addresses some of the definitional and measurement questions involved, and illustrates both the scale and the perceived significance of disbursement delays. It also outlines possible causes and solutions. The article concludes that a strategy which focuses on managing the negative consequences of aid disbursement delays is likely to be more effective than one based on an attempted resolution of its many causes. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.