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...
The World Bank estimates that COVID-19 could push between 143 and 163 million people into extreme poverty around the world in 2021, including nearly 50 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. And the pandemic could end up costing the global economy more than US$22 trillion by 2025 — roughly US$10 billion a day — compared to pre-pandemic projected growth. To combat the pandemic, advanced economies have moved fast to pre-order vaccines and pump trillions of dollars to shore up national economies....
COVID-19 is not just a health crisis, but a massive economic crisis costing the global economy more than US$300 billion a month — roughly US$10 billion a day — over six years. Government finances have been hit hard due to strict lockdowns, and dramatic declines in global trade, commodity prices, and tourism. While every country is affected, not every country has equal means to respond. Many wealthy countries moved swiftly to keep their economies afloat through stimulus packages worth...
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...
The OECD DAC, which tracks official development assistance (ODA) spending, has released the latest global aid figures. Due to a lag in reporting and analysis, these only cover through the end of 2019, but they paint a grim picture for what development assistance looked like in the lead up to the global pandemic. While overall global aid totalled US$151.7 billion, aid fell far short of commitments, and what’s more, development assistance to Africa and the most vulnerable countries declined. The top...
Fifteen years ago at the historic Gleneagles summit hosted by the UK, The ONE Campaign joined millions of campaigners to push G8 leaders to cancel 100% of the multilateral debt owed by the world’s poorest countries and double aid to Africa. Adding this to previous debt cancellation from Jubilee 2000, close to $100 billion of debt was written off for 36 heavily indebted countries. After years of burdensome debt payments, incurred by undemocratic leaders, African governments had a clean slate...
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...
COVID-19 is affecting every country in the world. But the poorest countries with the weakest health systems are likely to be hardest hit. Mali has one ventilator for every million people. And the kinds of social distancing and hand washing guidance given in Europe and North America simply won’t work for those without access to water and who need to earn an income every day to survive. Countries are also feeling the economic pinch. Oil revenues are down, tourism has...