Overseas aid falls
On the homepage of my web site, you will see the banner of the “Make Poverty History” campaign and I featured the issue of overseas aid on this blog at the time of the 2005 Gleneagles summit which promised a dramatic increase in aid. This week, however, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published its annual overview of aid which shows that, despite a big increase in spending by the UK, the developed world as a whole is off track to meet promises to poor nations made at the Gleneagles summit.
The total official development assistance (ODA) from members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) fell by 5.1% in 2006 to USD 103.9 billion. This represents only 0.30% of members’ combined Gross National Income (GNI). In real terms, this is the first fall in ODA since 1997, although the level is still the highest recorded with the exception of 2005.
According to the OECD, Britain, helped by the inclusion of debt relief, became the second largest aid donor in the world last year after the United States. Japan’s financial assistance slipped back due to reduced humanitarian assistance following high levels of spending to cope with the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004.
The only countries to reach or exceed the United Nations target of 0.7% of GNI were Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark. The largest donor in 2006 was the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, Japan, France and Germany. The combined ODA of the fifteen members of the DAC that are EU members accounted for 57% of total net ODA.