At USD 204 billion in 2022, official development assistance (ODA) from the 31 richest countries has reached an all-time high, an increase of 13.6% in real terms (USD 186 billion in 2021), according to the OECD’s preliminary data on ODA by member countries of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), released on Wednesday 12 April.
USD 204 billion is 0.36% of donors’ combined Gross National Income (GNI) (up from 0.33% in 2021), still far from the UN target of 0.7%, but the highest level in 40 years.
This increase - a trend observed for the fourth consecutive year - is primarily due to a sharp rise in spending on refugee processing and hosting in donor countries - USD 29.3 billion, or 14.4% of ODA (up from USD 12.8 billion in 2021). Excluding these costs, ODA has increased by 4.6% in real terms compared to 2021.
The massive aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion - USD 16.1 billion (up from USD 918 million in 2021), including USD 1.8 billion in humanitarian aid - is the second factor behind this record figure.
“We can be proud, but it is not enough. Donors need to do much more to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and address climate change”, OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann told an online press briefing, calling for “special grants”.
In 2022, ODA increased in 26 countries, mainly due to refugees. The highest increases were registered by Poland (+255.6%), the Czech Republic (+167.1%), Ireland (+125.1%), Lithuania (+121.6%), Slovenia (+48.7%) and Austria (+36.2%).
The United States remained the largest donor (USD 55.3 billion), followed by Germany, Japan, France and the UK.
Five European countries, including four EU countries, have reached or surpassed the UN target of 0.7% of GNI, led by Luxembourg (1%), followed by Sweden, Norway and Germany (which exceeded 0.7%) and Denmark (0.7%).
Bilateral sovereign lending by DAC countries has increased by 36% in grant equivalent compared to 2021. The countries with the highest share of loans in bilateral ODA are Japan (60%), Korea (32%) and France (22%). In addition, the EU institutions (24%).
Decrease in aid to LDCs. In 2022, bilateral aid from DAC countries to the least developed countries (LDCs) fell (-1%), as did aid to Africa (-7%) and sub-Saharan Africa (-8%).
Asked about this paradox, Mr Cormann said it was “not a lack of interest, it is a one-off, it’s not a long-term trend”. According to the OECD’s Director of Development Co-operation, Maria del Pilar Garrido Gonzalo, “the picture will be clearer in December”, when multilateral aid will be counted in the final statistics showing a detailed geographical and sectoral breakdown.
See the OECD preliminary data on ODA Levels: https://aeur.eu/f/6ai (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)