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Dwindling global aid

April 4, 2012

Foreign aid provided by the world's most industrialized nations has dropped for the first time in 15 years. The OECD puts the decline down to the ongoing financial crisis, but adds the picture is far from homogeneous.

https://p.dw.com/p/14Xsx
German aid worker and Africans busy building a well in Niger
Image: picture-alliance / dpa/dpaweb

Financial aid to developing countries in 2011 dropped by 2.7 percent year-on-year, adjusted for inflation and exchange rates, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported on Wednesday. It said aid volumes amounted to $133.5 billion (100 billion euros).

It's the first time since 1997 that donor countries in the industrialized world spent less on foreign aid than in the previous year, the OECD said in a statement in Paris.

"The fall of aid is a source of great concern, coming at a time when developing countries have been hit by the knock-on effect of the financial crisis and need it most," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said on Wednesday.

Aid last year made up 0.31 percent of gross national income (GNI) of the 23 donor countries that belong to the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC). Sub-Saharan Africa in particular received less than promised. Donations were put at $28 billion, a drop of 0.9 percent from 2010.

Better, but not good enough

Aid to Africa as a whole, however, rose by 0.9 percent to total $31.4 billion as donors were willing to give more after a number of far-reaching political changes in North Africa.

The United States, Germany, Britain, France and Japan remained the biggest aid donors in 2011. The United States alone provided $30.7 billion, as Germany defended second position with $14.5 billion in aid last year. The European Union as a whole accounted for 54 percent of all aid funding.

"I commend the countries that are keeping their commitments in spite of tough fiscal consolidation plans," OECD chief Angel Gurria said. "They show that the debt crisis should not be used as an excuse to reduce development cooperation contributions."

Despite a rise in German donations by 5.9 percent in real terms in 2011, the country's development aid still accounts for only 0.4 percent of its gross national income. "With a snail pace like that, Germany will never meet its self-declared goal of contributing 0.7 percent of BNI by 2015," the aid organization Oxfam said on Wednesday.

hg/sms (Reuters, AFP)