Donor nations fall short on aid pledge
Many industrialised nations have failed to live up to their promises to increase their aid commitments to developing countries.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said among the major donors, France, Germany and Italy would fall short, while some – mostly smaller nations including Switzerland – would exceed their commitments.
Five years ago, the 15 countries that are members of both the European Union and the OECD pledged to raise the minimum development assistance to 0.51 per cent of their Gross National Income (GNI) by 2010.
But in its report published on Wednesday, the OECD said “the underperformance of several large donors means there will be a significant shortfall”.
Poor countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, will receive $27 billion (SFr28.9 billion) more in aid this year than they did in 2004, but this is $21 billion less than what was promised by donor nations at the Gleneagles and Millennium + 5 summits in 2005.
At 1.03 per cent of GNI Sweden boasts the world’s highest rate of official development assistance, closely followed by Luxembourg (1 per cent) and Denmark (0.83 per cent).
Switzerland is expected to reach 0.47 per cent of its GNI, exceeding its previous commitment of 0.41 per cent.
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