Not to mention the development consultancy industry. A lot of what is given as “aid” never leaves the donor country because it pays inflated salaries or fees to nationals who act as middle men. Add to this offloading agricultural surplus as food aid instead of strengthening local food systems.

Western countries have long used creative accounting to mask all kinds of things as foreign aid. The largest recipients of US aid have been Israel and Egypt - a lot of which is military assistance - and starting recently Ukraine tops the list. “Aid” is not (just) digging wells in African villages.