[originaltext](16)Foreign aid is an important part of international efforts to

(16)Foreign aid is an important part of international efforts to reduce poverty. The United States Agency for international development has an estimate of the amount given since the early 1950s. It says 70 countries have received over 1 million million dollars in payments and loans from western nations.
But does foreign aid work? Reporter Aida Akl recently discussed the issue with several experts for a focus program. Michael Radew is a researcher at the World Policy Institute in New York. He says foreign aid can lead to in his words, “All the wrong economic policies that make those countries poor in the first place”. (17)He says it does not help the majority of poor people in a country, instead he says it strengthens the officials in power who are generally unelected. Other experts say foreign aid has produced mixed results, depending on where and how the money is spent. They note the successful examples like Taiwan and South Korea. The two have since become wealthy enough to give foreign aid themselves.
(18)In southern Africa, poverty rates increased from 41 percent in 1981 to 46 percent in 2001. Yet, there are calls for new methods of giving. George Ayitay is a Ganaien-born economics professor at American University in Washington. He says western countries should give less aid, but remove trade barriers so that they import more goods from developing countries. He also suggests that donor nations direct how they want their money spent.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.
16.What is foreign aid?
17.What does Michael Radew think of foreign aid?
18.How much did South Africa’s poverty rate increase from 1981 to 2001?