ONE reaction to the 2020 preliminary ODA figures

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (OECD DAC) released its preliminary figures for 2020.

ODA provided by the EU institutions in 2020 reached EUR 19.4 billion, an increase of 25.4% in real terms as it mobilised a significant amount of additional funds for COVID-19 related activities and whose sovereign lending (mainly European Investment bank loans) increased by 136% in real terms over 2019. ODA from the nineteen EU member states that are DAC members was USD 72.7 billion, an 7.8% increase compared to 2019, representing 0.50% of their combined GNI.

Emily Wigens, EU Director for the ONE Campaign, said: “Whilst the figures look promising on paper, they are a mere drop in the ocean for the world’s poorest countries where an additional 88 million to 115 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty this year.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed decades of development gains in a year. The IMF estimated that low-income countries face a financing gap of $200 billion to recover from COVID and another $250 billion to get back on track with fighting poverty.

With EU ODA locked in for the next 7 years in the new MFF, the EU must do better to contribute what’s needed to finance a truly inclusive global recovery. For instance, the EU and its member states should support reallocating special drawing rights to low-income countries and prioritise aid going to key sectors to overcome the health and economic crisis like health and human development.”