Official development assistance to developing countries from member countries of the OECDs Development Assistance Committee (DAC) rose an astounding 31,4 per cent to 106,5 billion US dollar (660 milliarder DKR) in 2005 – a record high, according to a press release Wednesday from OECD headquarters in Paris.
It represents 0,33 per cent of the DAC-members (industrilandenes) combined Gross National Income in 2005, up from 0,26 per cent in 2004.
Aid in the form of debt relief grants increased more than 400 per cent between 2004 and 2005, while other aid increased a mere – but still substantial – 8,7 per cent in the same period.
The main factors which accounted for the increase in 2005 were:
Debt relief for Iraq and Nigeria.
The Paris Club of creditors has agreed large debt relief operations for Iraq and Nigeria. In 2005 Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members provided debt forgiveness grants of nearly 14 billion dollar to Iraq and a little over 5 billion dollar to Nigeria.
Further debt relief to Nigeria will be included in official development assistance (ODA) figures in 2006 and to Iraq for the next three years as members implement further stages of the Paris Club agreements.
Tsunami aid
DAC members provided about 2,2 billion dollar in official assistance to countries affected by the devastating December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
ODA is expected to fall back slightly over 2006 and 2007 as debt relief declines. But other forms of aid are likely to continue their recent steady increase as donors fulfil their ODA volume pledges for later years.
The largest donor in 2005 was the United States, followed by Japan, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. The only countries to exceed the United Nations target for ODA of 0,7 per cent of GNI were, as for some years now, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
The UNITED STATES net ODA in 2005 was 27,5 billion US dollar, a rise of 35,6 per cent in real terms. Its ODA/GNI ratio rose from 0,17 to 0,22 per cent, its highest level since 1986.
Apart from debt relief, most of the increase was due to reconstruction aid in Iraq (which totalled 3,5 billion dollar), reconstruction and anti-narcotics programmes in Afghanistan (1,5 billion dollar) and aid to Sub-Saharan Africa (4,1 billion dollar).
JAPANs net ODA rose to 13,1 billion dollar and its ODA/GNI ratio to 0,28 per cent; an increase in real terms of 51,2 per cent. This included some 3,2 billion dollar to Iraq. Japan also provided over 540 million dollar in aid to tsunami-affected countries. On a gross basis Japans ODA was 18,6 billion dollar, up 18,3 per cent in real terms.
The combined ODA of the fifteen members of the DAC that are EU members rose 27,9 per cent in real terms to 55,7 billion dollar, equivalent to 0,44 per cent of their combined GNI. The bulk of this increase was for debt relief grants.
In 2002, the DAC/EU members committed to reach an ODA level of 0,39 per cent of their combined GNI by 2006, with a minimum country target of 0,33 per cent. Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain still need to increase their ODA in order to reach this target.
Aid increased in fourteen DAC EU member countries as follows:
GREECE (11,4 per cent), due to increased emergency aid and technical co-operation
ITALY (99,9 per cent), as it made large contributions to multilateral agencies
SPAIN (23,6 per cent), reflecting an increase in bilateral grants
SWEDEN (21 per cent), due to large contributions to the United Nations and the World Bank
Aid also increased in AUSTRIA (124,1 per cent (pc)), BELGIUM (32,3 pc), DENMARK (1,8 pc), FINLAND (29,2 pc), FRANCE (17,1 pc), GERMANY (30,7 pc), IRELAND (11,4 pc), LUXEMBOURG (8,4 pc), the NETHERLANDS (20,2 pc) and the UNITED KINGDOM (34,8 pc).
Aid fell in PORTUGAL (minus 65 pc) following the large debt rescheduling lending operation for Angola which boosted its ODA in 2004.
Aid provided by the EUROPEAN COMMISSION rose by 8,7 per cent to 9,6 billion US dollar reflecting an improvement of the ECs disbursement capacity and substantial reconstruction aid for tsunami hit countries.
Other DAC countries ODA rose as follows:
CANADA (30,3 pc), reflecting increased contributions to multilateral agencies
NEW ZEALAND (18,7 pc), due to an increase in response to the Indian Ocean tsunami, which has now been consolidated as an increase to ODA baselines for future years
NORWAY (13 pc), linked to an increased response to catastrophes in 2005, in particular tsunami related reconstruction projects
ODA also rose in AUSTRALIA (5,7 pc) and SWITZERLAND (14 pc).
Among the non-DAC OECD donor countries, only the Czech Republic, Korea, Poland and the Slovak Republic reported preliminary ODA figures for 2005. All reported significant increases in their ODA volume:
The Czech Republics ODA rose to 131 million dollar due to a larger contribution to the EC development budget.
Koreas ODA rose to 744 million dollar, reflecting an increase in bilateral grants as well as larger contributions to the World Bank and regional development banks.
Polands ODA rose to 283 million dollar as it increased its contributions to the EC development budget.
ODA from the Slovak Republic nearly doubled to 56 million dollar, partly due to increased aid to least developed countries, notably in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Kilde: www.oecd.org/dac
