OECD notes sharp drops in aid spending by Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal, but UK singled out for praise in increasing overseas spending this year
Deep cuts in aid budgets by crisis-stricken eurozone countries have prompted the biggest fall in development assistance to the world's poorest nations since the mid-1990s.
Sharp drops in spending by Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal resulted in a 4% decline in financial assistance to the developing world in 2012, according to the annual assessment conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The OECD, a club for 33 rich nations, said it was concerned by the decline, which it blamed on the austerity programmes forced on many eurozone countries over the past three years.
After a 2% drop in 2011, the decline in 2012 was the biggest in 15 years and was the first back-to-back drop in development assistance since 1996-97 – the years immediately before the mass public campaigns in the west for debt relief and increased development assistance.
"It is worrying that budgetary duress in our member countries has led to a second successive fall in total aid, but I take heart from the fact that, in spite of the crisis, nine countries still managed to increase their aid", said Angel Gurría, the OECD's secretary general. "As we approach the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (UN targets that include halving global poverty, universal primary education and cutting infant mortality), I hope that the trend in aid away from the poorest countries will be reversed. This is essential if aid is to play its part in helping achieve the Goals."
The OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) said that western aid in 2012 stood at $125.7bn (£82bn), and urged member states to live up to their pledges to the world's poor.
Spain cut its aid budget by 50%, Italy by 35%, Greece by 17% and Portugal by 13% as the single currency suffered its most severe crisis since monetary union was founded in 1999. But other big donors – including the United States, Japan and the UK – also reported small falls in aid spending in 2012.
Bilateral aid to sub-Saharan Africa - the world's poorest region - dropped by 8% in 2012, while assistance to the least developed countries (LDCs) was down by 13%.
The new chairman of the DAC, Erik Solheim, singled out the UK – which will increase its aid spending by more than 30% this year – as an example of how it was possible to increase financial assistance to poor countries even when there was pressure to reduce budget deficits. "I welcome the efforts of those nine DAC members that increased their aid in 2012, and urge others to increase their aid as soon as their budget circumstances allow", said Solheim. "Maintaining aid is not impossible even in today's fiscal climate. The UK's 2013-14 budget increases its aid to 0.7% of national income, which gives hope that we can reverse the falling trend."
Countries increasing their aid budgets in 2012 included Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Iceland, Poland, Turkey and South Korea.
Oxfam's head of development finance and public services, Emma Seery, said: "The UK government has shown it is possible to keep aid promises even in the toughest economic times. Political will is crucial, especially as it is now clear that the eurozone crisis is having a devastating knock-on effect on some of the world's poorest people."
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