Absorptive Capacity Finally, the amount of aid is considered in relation to
the recipient country’s absorptive capacity, its ability to use aid funds wisely
and productively (often meaning as donors want them to be used). Typically,
the donor countries decide which developing countries are to receive aid, how
much, in what form (loans or grants, financial or technical assistance), for what
purpose, and under what conditions on the basis of the donor countries’ assessment
of domestic absorptive capacities (particularly for the least developed
countries). But many types of assistance, such as resources for building infrastructure
or for training (e.g., of government officials or health or education
workers) itself increases absorptive capacity. It has been said that what one
donor sees as a constraint on the ability of a country to use conventional aid,
another sees as an opportunity to have more leveraged impact with new forms
of assistance.28 In any case, in practice the total amount of aid rarely has much
to do with developing-country absorptive capacities because typically, foreign
aid is a residual and low-priority element in donor-country expenditures. In
most instances, the recipient countries have little say in the matter.