The published figures reveal that last year development aid from OECD members
was $128.7 billion, just 0.32 per cent of gross national income and less than half the United Nations pledge they signed up for 40 years ago to give 0.7 per cent of their income in aid.
If the developed nations had delivered on their promise, $282 billion would have been available to help eradicate poverty in the world and build sustainable development programmes for a better future.
“Africa, in particular, has been short-changed”, said Arjun Karki of Least Developed Countries Watch. “At the G8 summit at Gleneagles, G8 countries pledged to provide an additional $25 billion each year by 2010, compared with 2004 levels.
Africa has actually only received an additional $11 billion, leaving a funding gap of $14 billion for the poorest continent.”
Bodo Ellmers, policy officer of the European Network on Debt and Development, said: “While the financial crisis might seem like the most obvious reason why aid budgets have not been sufficiently scaled up, donors were already way off track meeting their aid commitments before the crisis hit – so it’s no excuse.”
The OECD figures show that European Union donors gave 54 billion euros, but had promised 68 billion. “The gap between what EU donors are promising and what they are actually delivering is getting wider and wider,” said Mr Ellmers.
EU countries which kept their commitments include Luxembourg (1.09 per cent), Sweden (0.97), Denmark (0.90), the Netherlands (0.81), Belgium (0.64) and Britain (0.56).
Those which failed include some of the biggest economies: Italy (0.15 per cent), Greece (0.17), Portugal (0.29), Austria (0.32), Germany (0.38), Spain (0.43) and France (0.50).
“Money can be made available”, said Mr Ellmers. “What is missing is the political will. Introducing a simple financial transaction tax could solve all the donors’ fundraising problems in one go.”
While estimates for future aid look bleak, BetterAid – an umbrella organisation for 1,000 development groups – is urging donors to stick to their commitment and increase aid to 0.7 per cent of gross natinal income by 2015.
Arjun Karki said: “Keeping promises on pledges is crucial for aid predictability which is a cornerstone of aid effectiveness. Development planners need certainty that what is pledged is actually what will be made available.”
