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Contributions from
the Column
Studies and reports
International ODA rate is far from its peak value
EU enlargement – an opportunity for European development policy
Energy turning point: efficiency revolution and break-even charges
After the war: what form of government for Iraq?
The small arms problem cannot be solved in isolation
Pro-poor growth to reduce poverty
Foreign investment: democracies preferred?
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[ DAC Annual Report 2002 ]
International ODA rate is far from its peak value
If the donor countries kept the promise they made at the UN conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey last year, their total ODA rate could rise from a current 0.23 per cent of their GDP to 0.26 per cent by 2006. That would not by far match the doubling of international development assistance which was called for time and again before the conference in Monterrey, but would perhaps mark a change in trend. This what Jean-Claude Faure, chairman of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC), writes in his introduction to the DAC Development Co-operation 2002 Report.
However, in its latest statistics on development assistance (which were not contained in the report, but published separately at the end of April) the DAC points out to its members that an increase in the ODA rate to 0.26 per cent would still be much less than the peak value of 0.33 per cent achieved in 1992. According to the DAC figures, the donor countries increased their aid inputs in 2002 by a real 4.8 per cent compared to the previous year to almost US$ 57 billion. Nine countries increased their ODA rates significantly by more than 10 per cent. Most such increases, though, are to attributed to contributions to multilateral institutions which do not arise in other years. Germany increased its ODA slightly in 2002 by 0.4 per cent, and the German ODA rate remained unchanged at 0.27 per cent. As in recent years, only five countries, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, achieve the 0.7 per cent target. Three other countries last year named deadlines by which they aim to achieve that goal: Belgium by 2010, Ireland by 2007 and France by 2012.
A focal point of this year's DAC report is the question of the efficiency of development assistance. In this connection, the report also announces a modification of the DAC's Peer Reviews. The DAC surveyed its members last year to discover how they used the Peer Reviews and what in their view could be improved. The report names three central findings: first, the overall findings of various Peer Reviews should be summarised more intensively to general conclusions (such as in the sense of lessons learnt or good practices). Second, the standards by which donor policies are rated in the Peer Reviews should be more clearly formulated and oriented more strongly on the results of policies. Third, the Reviews should be broader in terms of subjects and, for example, also address the question of coherence. The DAC report says the Peer Reviews will be changed this year with these three points in mind. (ell)
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