WHAT IS THE DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE COMMITMENT?

At the Gleneagles Summit, France committed to reach at least 0.51% of its GNI as ODA by 2010 and 0.7% by 2012 (a target date later adjusted to 2015). This promise was made as part of the 2005 EU commitment on development assistance. The EU commitment stipulated that 50% of the increases in global ODA would be directed to sub-Saharan Africa, but France committed to spending 66% of all bilateral ODA in the region and 50% of multilateral assistance as well.

In order to reach its Gleneagles commitment, France would need to increase its ODA to sub-Saharan Africa from €2.213 billion ($3.192 billion) in 2004 to €5.822 billion ($8.398 billion) in 2010. As a percentage of GNI, this is the largest commitment among the G7 (0.31%) and the second highest in volume terms after the US.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Despite an increase in its global ODA in 2008, France’s ODA to sub-Saharan Africa fell from 2007 to 2008. For the first time, Germany is now a bigger donor to sub-Saharan Africa than France. France is off track to meet its 2010 commitments, and this cut in assistance will necessitate even steeper increases to the region over the next two years to get on track for 2010. Unfortunately, the French budget shows that global ODA levels will rise only slightly in the coming two years, and projected ODA increases to sub-Saharan Africa in 2009 will only be enough to recoup decreases that occurred in 2008. Radical changes will have to be made to France’s budget levels and spending priorities if the Gleneagles commitments and EU targets are to be achieved.

France has provided leadership among the G8 in delivering funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Moving forward, France will have a difficult time keeping its sector commitments given the recent cuts in its development budget.

LOOKING AHEAD

When the financial crisis struck in the latter part of 2008, France held the Presidency of the EU. During those six months, it demonstrated political leadership in key areas of development. At the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in September 2008, France provided leadership both as President of the EU27 and as chair of key negotiations that helped to secure a strong outcome document.

Also, President Sarkozy and Development Minister Alain Joyandet played an important part in obtaining agreement to set up a new 'Food Facility' to help farmers in developing countries to mitigate the effect of the food crisis and to plug fungind gaps. This proposal faced severe political opposition from key governments within the EU for a variety of reasons, including an unwillingness to support an unorthodox budgetary procedure and the desire of governments to reclaim unspent money for their national treasuries. France’s leadership played an important part in overcoming those obstacles.

The additional $1.44 billion (€1 billion) for farmers in developing countries (of which ONE calculates $1.09 billion (€760 million) to be additional to ODA already budgeted at the EC level. More than $432 million of the Food Facility funding has already been disbursed in 2009 to provide key inputs to farmers as well as to provide social safety nets. Around $1.154 billion is expected to be spent by the end of the year.

President Sarkozy also represented France as the only EU donor to attend the Doha Financing for Development Conference, where he emphasised that Europe would keep its promises to the developing world. However, with the French development assistance budget for sub-Saharan Africa cut this year, this leadership is looking increasingly rhetorical rather than substantive.

Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has been vocal in her insistence that ODA will not rise until after 2012. Given that France's global ODA has increased substantially in the past year, President Sarkozy should set a clear timetable for increasing ODA between now and 2015 that prioritises ODA to sub-Saharan Africa and that is delivered largely in the form of grants, not loans.

SEE THE ODA CHART

FRANCE ODA to sub-Saharan Africa and 2010 target

Click to enlarge
 

IS FRANCE DOING ITS PART TO MEET THE G8's SECTORAL COMMITMENTS?
 

ON TRACK
DEBT
  • Along with other G8 countries, France has agreed to cancel 100% of qualified debts for the poorest countries, first through the HIPC and then through the MDRI process.

  • An important measure of progress on debt is the extent to which donors fulfil their commitments to compensate the IFIs for lost reflows due to lost revenue from debt servicing. France is on track with such commitments. In total, it has made pledges to cover the cost of multilateral debt cancellation worth $2.468 billion through to 2044, a figure that exceeds its share, $2.314 billion.

  • As part of its pledges, France has committed to contribute $648.5 million between 2006 and 2019 to compensate IDA for reflows lost due to MDRI. As of 30 June 2008, it had made an unqualified pledge of $517.49 million - around 80% of the compensation needed. France is therefore on track, with sufficient time to deliver the remainder.

  • France has cancelled 100% of bilateral debt owed by completion point HIPC countries, with one important exception: it has not cancelled its post-cut-off-date commercial claims and therefore has not delivered as much as other G8 countries.
AGRICULTURE
  • Even prior to the Hokkaido commitment to reverse the decline in G8 funding, France had fulfilled that commitment with increases from 2004 to 2007 totalling $342.61 million for agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the commitment remains weak.

  • France provided $478.84 million to agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa in 2007, more than double its 2006 levels, and $90.44 million for food aid in the region.

  • President Sarkozy and France led the campaign for the EU to approve the use of €1 billion ($1.44 billion) in unused EU funds for agricultural initiatives in the developing world (ONE calculates €760 million ($1.096 billion) to be additional to the ODA already budgeted at the EC level). This was approved by the EU in December 2008. At least €800 million ($1.15 billion) will be disbursed in 2009.
WATER AND SANITATION
  • This report interprets the G8 commitment on water and sanitation to mean that a donor should direct 5.5% of its ODA to sub-Saharan Africa to the sector. In 2007, France spent $336 million on the sector in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for 6.37% of its total ODA to the region, an amount that exceeds the 5.5% ODA target.

  • The 6.37% of France's ODA to sub-Saharan Africa that was spent on water and sanitation represents an increase over the 5.17% dedicated to the sector in 2006. However, this percentage increase is deceptive. France's weak ODA levels artificially inflate its performance in this sector, as the percentage is based on total ODA given to sub-Saharan Africa (France's total ODA to the region actually decreased by 16% from 2007 to 2008). In order to make real progress in this sector, France must increase overall ODA levels and work with other nations to make a better collective promise on resources for water and sanitation.
EDUCATION
  • In 2007 France provided $195 million for primary education to sub-Saharan Africa. This nearly matched its proportionate share of $217 million needed annually to achieve UPE in the region.

  • France will need to increase its assistance to $200 million in 2008 to get fully on track with its Gleneagles commitment on education.

  • France is the largest G8 donor to education in sub-Saharan Africa, but commits only a small proportion of its ODA to primary education (20% in 2007). A large share of France's overall education budget is still spent on higher education and imputed student costs, which do not directly support national education sector objectives. In March 2008, France announced a partnership with the UK and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to get 16 million children into school and to improve the quality of education in Africa by 2010. It has pledged to support 8 million of these 16 million children, but very little progress has been made on delivering this objective.

OFF TRACK
TRADE
  • As a key member of the EU, France is represented in the WTO negotiations and bilateral trade negotiations such as the EPA negotiations through the EU. Sensitivities in the agricultural sector, combined with market opening interests in the manufactured goods and services sectors, continue to impede the progress of negotiations in the pro-development agenda.

  • The EU is currently negotiating EPAs with African regions. EPAs are two-way deals that require African countries to open up their markets in return for better access to EU markets. They were introduced after the original programme that provided special market access to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries expired at the end of 2007 due to WTO compliance issues. Many civil society voices have been critical of the EU's approach to EPAs, voicing concerns about the adequacy of policy space. The fragmentation of regional blocs has also been attributed to the EU forcing countries to negotiate as part of groupings that do not reflect existing organising entities in Africa. This has seriously undermined the objective of enhancing regional trade and integration - one of the prime goals of EPAs. While negotiations continue, the interim agreements that have been initialled with certain countries such as Cameroon and Ghana, or certain smaller regions such as the East African Community, allow preferential access to EU markets to continue until full agreements have been concluded. With the mandate of the present European Commission winding down before June's European elections, and with the next Commission unlikely to take office until after the Lisbon Treaty referendum in October, agreement on full EPAs still looks a long way off.

  • LDCs are granted nearly 100% duty-free and quota-free market access to products through the EU’s Everything But Arms programme. However, this programme does not cover all African countries, and has been criticised for maintaining complicated rules of origin that make it difficult for poor countries to utilise. In response, the EU has begun work to revise the EBA rules of origin.

  • In 2005, at the WTO Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong, the EU pledged to increase aid for trade to all developing countries by €2 billion ($2.5 billion) per year by 2010. According to the OECD figures, France's aid for trade contributions to Africa increased in 2007 to $1.008 billion, from $780 million the year before. Meanwhile, aid for trade needs in Africa alone are estimated to be $12-$14 billion per annum.

  • The European Commission is the world's largest subsidiser of the agricultural sector, collectively spending approximately €53.6 billion ($73.3 billion) in subsidies to support European farmers in 2007 through its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). French farmers received €10.2 billion ($13.9 billion) through the CAP. France is a net beneficiary of the CAP, and historically has not been in favour of reforming it.
HEALTH
  • Total health sector spending for sub-Saharan Africa in 2007 was $433.61 million, an 18.4% increase over 2006 and a $74.26 million (20.7%) increase over 2004.

  • Of total 2007 health spending, France spent $305.81 million (70.53%) on infectious diseases; $96.77 million (22.32%) on health systems; $30.17 million (6.96%) on basic health; and $0.85 million (0.2%) on reproductive health. France has not contributed to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative since 2006.

  • France pledged and contributed $402.7 million to the Global Fund in 2008 and has shown real leadership as the second largest donor to the Fund. On 1 December 2008, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy became a global ambassador for the Global Fund.

  • France contributed a total of $18.66 million to the GAVI Alliance over three years between 2003 and 2006, equivalent to $6.22 million per year. It has pledged a total of €1.24 billion to IFFIm over 20 years, beginning with an initial commitment of €372.8 million in 2006 and an increase of €867.2 million in 2007. France also contributed $268.4 million to UNITAID between November 2006 and December 2007.