Aid for trade: a critical analysis

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the concept of Aid for Trade (AfT) within a context of Official Development Assistance and to submit it to a critical analysis based on its own shortcomings as much as the critique from the “right” and from the “left” of the politico-economic spectrum. The chapter provides a critical analysis of AfT, including notions such as trade not aid and the neoliberal agendas. Following from the critical analysis the discussion turns to paradigm shifts in AfT bringing to the fore AfT as a subset of the Value for Money philosophy in Official Development Assistance.