THE United States has paid out less than half of the $800 million (£458 million) it pledged in aid to help victims of last year’s tsunami.

Figures released yesterday by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show that the US handed over just under $300 million. Germany, which made a commitment for a little over $300 million, has paid out less than $100 million, while less than half of the $250 million offered by France eventually appeared on the ground.

In contrast, Japan transferred almost all the $600 million it had promised on paper, while more than 90 per cent of Britain’s pledge of $150 million has reached the area.

The findings are contained in the OECD Factbook 2006, released in Brussels yesterday. Commenting on them, Enrico Giovannini, the OECD’s chief statistician, said: “There are huge discrepancies in some countries between commitments and actual behaviour.”

In all, donor governments and the European Commission pledged $1.7 billion in emergency aid and $1.9 billion to be spent by the end of 2009 on longer-term projects.

Oxfam, which received donations of $278 million with which it has begun to help 1,800,000 people in seven countries to rebuild their lives, said that national governments should not be allowed to renege on their commitments.

“People around the world were unparalleled in their generosity at the time of the tsunami and governments were running to catch up. Now, 15 months later, it looks like they are hoping they can quietly scale back their contributions while no one is looking. It is just not acceptable.”

More than £350 million was donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee Tsunami Earthquake Appeal in Britain. Global private donations were at least $4.5 billion, while governments and other agencies pledged nearly $7 billion.

The Department for International Development said that it had asked partners to account fully for their spending. A spokesman said: “It is our understanding the funds have so far been used to handle immediate relief and rehabilitation and for the first stages of reconstruction. Remaining funds will be allocated over the next few years to continue reconstruction and longer-term rehabilitation.”

USAID, the main US agency that deals with help to countries recovering from disaster, said that it did not recognise the figures for the US Government’s contribution to tsunami funds.

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