At 179 billion US dollars, official development assistance (ODA) from the 30 richest countries has reached a record level in 2021, including donations of Covid-19 vaccines, an increase of 4.4% over 2020. Without vaccines, however, ODA was up 0.6% in real terms compared to 2020, according to preliminary data from the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC), released on Tuesday 12 April.
179 billion US dollars equivalent to 0.33% of the combined GNI of these rich countries, as in 2020 (see EUROPE 12697/7).
Donated vaccines accounted for 3.5% of aid (US$6.3 billion), equivalent to the provision of 857 million doses, of which 357 million (US$2.3 billion) were surplus doses from national reserves.
In 2021, ODA from the 19 DAC countries that are part of the EU was 81.3 billion US dollars (+4.3% in real terms compared to 2020), or 0.49% of their combined GNI.
Five European countries have reached or surpassed the UN target of 0.7% of GNI - including four EU countries: Germany (with 0.74%), Denmark (0.7%), Luxembourg (0.99%) and Sweden (0.92%) - the same as in 2020, but in a different order (see EUROPE 12698/19). Norway is also included at 0.93%.
Total ODA disbursed by EU institutions fell by 8.1% in real terms due to loan repayments to the private sector.
Oxfam, which in February denounced the inclusion of vaccines in ODA, again deplored this practice, which “inflates aid”.
“Donors have thrown the rules out the window by counting vaccine donations in aid budgets. More than 350 million doses of vaccine were from stockpiles, some of which were donated far too close to their expiry date”, commented Jeroen Kwakkenbos, an EU aid expert with the NGO.
See preliminary figures (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/18u (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)