Tax on Forex trades to raise $50bn aid

A tax on currency transactions, a levy on mobile phone calls and a global lottery will be looked at by a high-level international task force this week in an attempt to raise $45bn (£28bn) to improve health systems in the world's poorest countries.

Amid fears that the global recession will lead to cuts in western aid budgets, a task force set up by Gordon Brown will meet in Paris to discuss so-called "innovative financing mechanisms".

The prime minister is under pressure from a coalition of UK and international campaign groups to back a 0.005% micro-tax on the $1 quadrillion ($1,000 trillion) annual trade in foreign currencies.

Anton Kerr, policy manager of the International HIV/Aids Alliance, said the levy would raise $30bn-$50bn a year - enough to double spending on health in low-income countries. "All eyes are on Gordon Brown, " he said. "A number of countries - including Germany, France and the US - have expressed an interest in a currency transaction tax but they are waiting for somebody to take the lead."

UK government sources said the task force would boil down a hundred options for raising money and come up with about 10 ideas to submit to the G8 summit in July and a gathering of world leaders at the UN in September.

The prime minister is sceptical about a currency tax, on the grounds that it would cause distortions in the financial markets unless it were introduced universally. Britain will back the selling of bonds and support France's proposed levy on air passengers but is also interested in plans to ask mobile phone users to pay an extra 10p when they top up their phones.