Yesterday the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) released the latest preliminary data on global aid spending in 2020. It showed that last year, donors provided $161 billion in official development assistance (ODA). This represents a 3.5% increase, in real terms, compared to 2019. It is especially encouraging to see that in a year where there was a global pandemic and economic downturn and even advanced economies suffered, they still managed to prioritise and increase global aid. More ambition required However, this...
COVID-19 is threatening to wipe out decades of economic progress and development gains. Sub-Saharan Africa fell into recession for the first time in 25 years in 2020, with economic growth contracting by 3%, the worst on record. For many countries, a return to 2019 economic growth levels will not occur until 2022–24. Alarmingly, the pandemic will push up between 88 and 115 million people into extreme poverty — those living under US$1.90 a day — around the globe, reversing the...
Fighting a pandemic and its economic aftershocks requires enormous amounts of money. In higher income countries, governments have stepped forward with trillions in economic stimulus packages. But the majority of developing countries do not have the money to cover the full costs of this pandemic. Suspending debt service payments is one of the fastest, most effective means of freeing up cash in developing country budgets. The Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), a G20 agreement to suspend debt service payments for...
The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to undo years of progress on global education. Since the pandemic started, school closures have affected up to 91% of enrolled learners, or 1.6 billion children. Here is a look at how countries’ policies on school closures evolved over the past six months. COVID-19 quickly transformed from a localized epidemic to a global pandemic with far-reaching consequences across sectors 6 months ago, when COVID-19 was still just a localized epidemic, only two countries had restrictions on...
At the end of July, in private closed-door discussions, donor countries reached an agreement on debt relief that will have massive implications for development aid. Spoiler alert: it’s bad news. This deal could allow donors to artificially inflate their aid statistics, counting relief for loans that are not for development, and double counting aid money if they provide relief. This is an unfair change, particularly in the middle of a global pandemic when more aid — not double counted aid...
Governments are spending trillions of dollars on COVID-19 response. By necessity, that spending is happening rapidly — yet often there is little or no oversight, increasing the risk that money is stolen or mismanaged and that additional lives are lost or ruined. Strong oversight and monitoring of emergency funds can help save lives. It can root out corruption and fraud, helping to ensure that money reaches its intended purpose. It enables markets to function effectively, potentially driving down prices, and...
So far, most countries in Africa are reporting comparatively low numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases, with a few countries accounting for most of the confirmed cases. But the impacts of food insecurity could end up being worse than the direct impacts of the health pandemic. The number of people experiencing acute food insecurity is expected to double to more than one-quarter of a billion people by end of 2020. And the World Bank estimates that between 26-39 million people in...
The costs of the COVID-19 pandemic are going to be monumental. Africa alone is estimated to need US$100-$200 billion to address the impact. In higher income countries, governments have stepped forward with trillions in economic stimulus packages. But the majority of developing countries do not have the money to cover the costs of this pandemic. Debt relief is one of the fastest, most effective means of freeing up cash in developing country budgets. The recent G20 agreement to suspend debt...
The latest official development assistance (ODA) data for 2018 show there is a lot of room for improvement: total aid is not remotely enough, the countries and regions most in need still do not receive the majority of aid, and gender blind projects are still the norm. But there are also some positive trends that should be highlighted and continued. Here’s an overview of what the statistics tell us about last year’s US$153 billion aid budget, including how and where the...