Grammar check

Can someone please check my paragraph?
It is the last paragraph of the first part of my introduction.
Are there any spelling or grammar mistakes? Furthermore, I find it difficult to connect sentences, any comments on that part?
I would really appreciate all the help!

"Lastly, it is important to draw attention to the influence of development aid in helping developing countries to improve their level of infrastructure. The concept of development aid goes back to the British colonial period at the turn of the twentieth century. Having said that, the volume of international aid to the Third World grew dramatically from the 1960s. This aid came mainly from the US and Western European countries, but there were also significant contributions from the Soviet Union in exchange for overseas political influence in the context of the heightened global tensions of the Cold War. Nowadays, official development assistance (ODA) consists of disbursements of loans made on concessional terms and grants by official agencies to promote economic development and welfare (World Bank, 2014). However, many econometric studies in recent years have supported the view that development aid is wasteful. Negative side effect can include increasing corruption, or an unbalanced appreciation of the recipient’s currency (known as ‘Dutch Disease’) (White, 1992)."