Although International aid rapidly increased from the 1980s onwards, its origins can be traced back to just after the Second World War, when the Marshall Plan (1947) was first introduced. A US initiative, comprising of $13 billion (around $130 billion today),the Marshall Plan aimed to improve Europe’s economic performance through boosting trade and the production of goods, and later was implemented in other parts of the developing world, due to its success in Europe, where GNP was at an all time high. This today has been the basis for all international aid, the aim of improving stability and increasing peace and prosperity in other nations to ensure security. However, international aid has sparked an ongoing debate with two antithetical positions towards it. On the one hand, many believe that foreign aid has led to more prosperous lives in LEDCs and has improve social welfare, whereas others disagree and believe it creates a dependency culture and creates a cycle of poverty. Thus, the issue of international aid has never been easy to resolve.