Official development assistance (ODA) from Development Assistance Committee (DAC) countries rose 5.6% in real terms to 56.4 billion US dollars, but was unchanged as a percentage of GNP at 0.24%, well below the United Nations target of 0.7% of GNP, the latest issue of the DAC Journal reports.
Japan, the single largest donor, was responsible for the lion’s share of the increase, with its ODA rising to 15.32 billion dollars in 1999 from 10.64 billion the previous year, accounting for 0.35% of GNP, up from 0.28%.
Only four DAC members – Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden – passed the 0.7% UN target. And while the four largest donors in terms of amount – Japan, the United States, France and Germany – between them contributed more than 60% of ODA in 1999, these donors also effected the largest cuts in aid in the 1990s, the report said.
US aid as a percentage of GNP has fallen by half since 1990, while that of France and Germany has dropped by around 40%. Only Japan has maintained its ODA/GNP ratio, since cuts it had planned from 1997 were outweighed by special efforts to relieve the Asian financial crisis.
REFERENCE
• DAC Journal Development Co-operation Report 2000, OECD.
©OECD Observer No 225, March 2001
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