Udviklingskomiteen DAC i de rige landes samarbejdsorganisation, OECD, offentliggjorde mandag tal, der viser, at den internationale udviklingsbistand er steget for syvende år i træk.
Den samlede internationale udviklingsbistand udgjorde 78,6 mia. US dollar i 2004 svarende til en reel stigning på 4,6 pct. i forhold til 2003.
For Danmark er bistanden opgjort til 0,84 pct. af bruttonationalindkomsten (BNI). Danmark er hermed fortsat blandt de lande, der yder forholdsmæssigt mest i udviklingsbistand, kun overgået af Norge med 0,87 pct. og Luxembourg med 0,85 pct. Andre lande, der ligger over FN-målet på 0,7 pct. af BNI er Sverige (0,77 pct.) og Holland (0,74 pct.).
Den danske bistand steg med 3,5 pct. fra 2003 til 2004, hvilket skyldtes at niveauet for udviklingsbistanden blev lavere end tilsigtet i 2003 på grund af Indiens ekstraordinære tilbagebetaling af udestående udviklingslån på i alt 528 mio. kr.
I den forbindelse udtaler udviklingsminister Ulla Tørnæs (V):
– Det er positivt, at det internationale bistandsniveau nu er steget 7 år i træk. Beregninger viser dog, at der er behov for yderligere ressourcer, for at sikre opfyldelsen af målet om at halvere antallet af fattige i 2015.
– Danmark deltager aktivt i forberedelsen af FN-topmødet i september 2005, hvor der bl.a. vil blive gjort status for opnåelsen af 2015-målene. Topmødet skaber et vigtigt fokus på behovet for yderligere udviklingsfinansiering til de fattigste lande i Afrika.
– Regeringen vil sikre, at Danmark ikke kommer under 0,8 pct. af BNI i udviklingsbistand i de kommende år. Det er positivt, at OECD-opgørelsen viser, at en række OECD-lande øger deres udviklingsbistand i disse år og dermed nærmer sig det internationalt fastsatte mål på 0,7 pct. af BNI, slutter udviklingsministeren.
OECDs pressemeddelelse om OECD-landenes udviklingsbistand i 2004 står nedenfor
Yderligere information om niveauet for den danske bistand hos Eva Egesborg Hansen på tlf. 33 92 00 00 og på webadressen www.oecd.org
OFFICIAL Development Assistance (ODA) increases further – but 2006 targets still a challenge
Official Development Assistance (ODA) to developing countries increased to 78,6 billion US dollar in 2004, its highest level ever. Taking into account inflation and the fall in the US dollar, this represents a 4,6 per cent rise in real terms from 2003 to 2004 and follows a 4,3 per cent increase from 2002 to 2003.
The total represented 0,25 per cent of Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members combined gross national income (GNI), the same level as in 2003, but up from 0,23 per cent in 2002 and 0,22 in 2001.
Several factors accounted for the 3,1 billion US dollar rise in real terms in 2004. Among these were:
– Contributions to international organisations increased by 3,7 billion dollar
– Aid to Afghanistan and Iraq was up by a total of at least 1,5 billion dollar
– Technical co-operation grants rose by 1,2 billion dollar
– Gross debt relief grants fell by 2,1 billion dollar, and
– Net lending fell by 1,3 billion dollar.
Fifteen of the twenty-two DAC member countries reported increased ODA in 2004. The United States remained the largest aid donor in volume terms, followed by Japan, France, the United Kingdom and Germany.
The only countries to exceed the UN target for ODA of 0,7 per cent of GNI remain Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
The United States net ODA in 2004 was 19 billion US dollar, a 14,1 per cent iincrease in real terms from 2003. Its ODA/GNI ratio rose from 0,15 per cent to 0,16. Most of the increase was due to a 1,8 billion dollar contribution to the International Development Association (IDA), the grant and soft-loan arm of the World Bank.
Aid to Afghanistan (875 million dollar) and Iraq (2,9 billion dollar) also rose substantially. United States ODA comprised 24,2 per cent of the DAC total in 2004, its highest share since 1986, and nearly double the low point of 12,5 per cent reached in 1995.
Japans net ODA fell by 4,8 per cent in real terms to 8,9 billion US dollar or 0,19 per cent of its GNI. However, in gross terms its ODA rose by 24,5 per cent to 16,1 billion dollar.
This was due partly to aid for reconstruction of Iraq, though mainly to greatly increased debt relief to some of the most heavily indebted countries in the world. But this debt relief had little effect on net ODA since the bulk of the forgiven loans were counted as ODA when they were extended.
Increased repayments of ODA loans, notably by countries that have recovered from the Asian financial crisis, also affected Japans net ODA.
The 15 DAC countries that are members of the European Union (EU) increased their combined ODA by 2,9 per cent in real terms to 42,9 billion US dollar – some 55 per cent of DACs Official Development Assistance (ODA).
It represented 0,36 per cent of these countries combined GNI, up from 0,35 per cent in 2003 and broadly on track towards the EU target of 0,39 per cent by 2006, although five EU members still need to increase their ODA substantially to reach the minimum country target of 0,33 per cent.
EU members committed themselves to these targets before the 2002 Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Development.
Among EU member countries Belgium has committed to meeting the UN target of 0,7 per cent by 2010 and France by 2012 – with an interim target of 0,5 per cent by 2007.
Sweden has announced its goal to reach an ODA/GNI ratio of 1 per cent by 2006, Spain to attain 0,33 per cent in 2006 and 0,5 per cent in 2008, and the United Kingdom to reach 0,47 per cent by 2007-08 and 0,7 per cent by 2013.
The largest rises in aid in real terms in 2004 by EU countries were in:
– Austria (22 per cent), mainly due to debt relief grants
– Greece (13,1 per cent), due to increased technical co-operation and emergency relief
– Luxembourg (10,5 per cent), due to increased contributions to regional development banks
– Portugal (an exceptional 187,5 per cent), due to a large debt relief operation for Angola
– Spain (14,5 per cent), due to the timing of contributions to international organisations
– United Kingdom (8,8 per cent), due to higher project and programme aid expenditure and debt relief.
ODA also rose in real terms in Denmark (3,5 per cent), Finland (5,9 per cent), France (4,3 per cent), Ireland (2,2 per cent) and Sweden (1,4 per cent), and remained practically unchanged in Germany (minus 0,4 per cent).
ODA fell in real terms in Belgium (minus 30,3 per cent), after the peak in 2003 caused by a large debt relief operation for the DR Congo.
The fall in Italy (minus 9,7 per cent) was mainly due to reduced debt forgiveness (down about 400 million dollar).
ODA from the Netherlands fell (minus 4 per cent) as India repaid all its outstanding Dutch aid loans. These early repayments brought the Netherlands ODA down to 0,74 per cent of its GNI, below its target of 0,8 per cent, which it intends to maintain, on average, over the period 2004-07 through above-target performance in 2005-07.
Aid managed by the European Commission (EC), funded by EU members from the amounts shown above, increased by 7,1 per cent in 2004, continuing a trend towards more efficient disbursement of their resources.
Other DAC members saw the following changes in real terms in their ODA:
– Australias ODA rose slightly by 2,3 per cent.
– Canadas ODA rose by 12,2 per cent as reimbursements (tilbagebetalinger) declined compared to 2003 when India had repaid its Canadian ODA loans
– New Zealands ODA rose by 8,2 per cent. This included a significant increase in grants to South Pacific Agencies.
– Norways ODA fell slightly (minus 2,9 per cent)
– Switzerlands ODA fell (minus 3 per cent). However, this figure may be revised substantially if Switzerland decides to report the initial costs of asylum-seekers from developing countries arriving in Switzerland.
Among non-DAC OECD donors, only Poland has provided preliminary data showing that its ODA rose to 124 million dollar in 2004 as Poland joined the EU and started contributing to its development budget.
Further substantial rises in ODA are expected in 2005 and 2006. If members meet the ODA volume commitments they made at and after the Monterrey conference, the ODA/GNI ratio should improve from 0,25 per cent in 2004 to 0,30 per cent in 2006.
The main sources of the rises are likely to be:
Contributions to the World Banks International Development Association: In February 2005, donors agreed to contribute 18 billion US dollar to IDA to increase its grants and loans by at least 25 per cent.
Increases in bilateral aid budgets: Several DAC members are implementing significant expansions of their bilateral aid programmes. For example, the United States Millennium Challenge Account is now operational and two other large donors – France and the UK – are increasing their bilateral ODA as part of ambitious plans to meet the UN 0,7 per cent target by 2012-13.
Tsunami aid: The devastating Indian Ocean tsunami has led to exceptional mobilisation of both private and official resources for relief and reconstruction. The DAC will track disbursements arising from the pledges made.
Debt relief for Iraq: At the end of 2004, the Paris Club agreed to relieve much of the debt owed by Iraq. Depending on the pace of bilateral agreements between Iraq and its creditors, up to 15 billion US dollar of this relief may be reportable as ODA by DAC members in 2005.
For further information, journalists are invited to contact Helen Fisher, OECD’s Media Relations Division (tel. 33 1 45 24 97 00).
For further information, see www.oecd.org/dac/stats
