Fact check Frequently asked questions addressed to the German Development Ministry (BMZ)

Global problems can only be solved through global cooperation. For instance, climate change can only be halted through joint action worldwide. This is an effort that depends particularly on many of our partner countries. If these countries manage to invest immediately in renewable energy instead of taking a detour via fossil fuels, the entire planet will benefit.

Because it is clear, of course, that it makes no difference whether a tonne of carbon is saved in Peru, India or Germany. Every reduction is equally important for global climate change mitigation, because climate change is global and the damage from climate change can be felt worldwide – in droughts in the Sahel, cyclones in the Ganges Delta and floods in northern Germany.

The same goes for the global fight against violence and armed conflict, providing support for refugees, and offering assistance to their host countries and countries of origin, as well as for the fight against global pandemics. All of this will only work with more cooperation, not with less.

Moreover, development policy also pays off financially. World Bank calculations have shown that every euro we spend today to make societies worldwide more resilient to crises will save taxpayers four euros in humanitarian aid in the future. So this investment pays off.

Moreover, it is more important than ever for Germany to have allies and trading partners all over the world with whom we work in mutual respect and partnership. Active development policies lay the foundations for this, and they open doors. Germany’s prosperity has been built on this openness towards the world. Exports account for one in every two euros made in Germany. If Germany wants to remain a strong exporting nation, if we want to continue selling cars, machinery and medicines to other countries, we cannot afford to retreat into our shell.

According to some online sources, the BMZ is supposedly paying 315 million euros for bicycle paths and buses in Peru. This figure is not correct.

In actual fact, the BMZ is providing a 20-million-euro grant (which was committed in 2020) to support the development of a network of bicycle highways in Lima, which is currently under construction. In 2022, the BMZ committed another 24 million euros for the construction of bicycle paths in Peru. These paths are currently in the planning stage.

For more information (in German) about how a concept for sustainable mobility is being supported in Peru, visit: https://www.bmz.de/de/laender/peru/nachhaltige-mobilitaet-in-lima (External link)

No. The funds are reaching Syrian refugees, but even so, because the need is so great, in many places not even one in every two Syrian refugee children is able to attend school. Nevertheless, 111,000 Syrian refugee children are attending Lebanese state schools, allowing them to obtain a school leaving certificate in their host country and giving them prospects for the future.

Why is Germany involved? Due to the civil war in Syria, 1.5 million people have fled to neighbouring Lebanon. This is putting huge pressure on the 4.5 million people of Lebanon, many of whom live in comparative poverty. Many displaced families do not want to move further away; they wish to remain in Lebanon, near to their home country, for the time being. In order to do so, however, they need to be able to meet their basic needs and send their children to school. Lebanon cannot and does not wish to tackle the huge challenge of educating these children alone. Together with the EU, France and Switzerland, Germany is therefore financing a UNICEF programme that is enabling both Syrian and particularly poor Lebanese children to attend state schools. The programme is based on the “double-shift school system”: Syrian refugee children generally receive lessons in the afternoon, while Lebanese children attend school in the mornings. UNICEF only covers the cost of the children’s schooling if their actual attendance is certified. This is verified by an independent auditor.

No. Unlike the BMZ’s cooperation with countries with a lower gross domestic product, support for India is provided mainly (about 90 per cent) in the form of reduced-interest loans. So the bulk of Indo-German cooperation does not require any taxpayers’ money. Moreover, India is repaying the money with interest. As a result, Germany’s development bank, KfW, actually generates a surplus on some of the financing it provides. And the programmes also benefit Germany’s private sector, as German companies win some of the bids.

The Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar metro line, too, has been financed through a loan: a so-called reduced-interest loan, for which KfW uses capital market funding.

The point is that, if these investments result in the world’s most populous country moving towards climate neutrality, all people worldwide will benefit in the end, no matter where they live, whether it’s India or Germany. The purpose of Germany’s development cooperation with India is to jointly tackle global challenges such as climate change. Here, cooperation with large and emerging economies like India is absolutely vital. India, as the world’s largest democracy, is also an important partner for the German government in geopolitical terms.

Germany is not giving any development funding to China. China has vast economic and technological resources. It is providing loans to other countries itself, and is investing in infrastructure projects, for instance in Africa. So, since 2010, there has been no more bilateral development cooperation between Germany and China. The remaining cooperation between the BMZ and China focuses on the two countries’ efforts to jointly provide and protect global public goods such as climate action and health. In some instances, there is also cooperation for the benefit of third countries.

So why does China still appear in official development assistance statistics? This is mainly due to the fact that these statistics include the costs reported by Germany’s federal states for the enrolment of Chinese students in German higher education institutions. This exchange is in Germany’s interest, as many of these Chinese students later contribute to close economic relations, for instance by working for German companies that cooperate closely with China. Funding from the BMZ’s budget that went to China in 2022 totalled a mere 8.23 million euros. This includes efforts relating to the Rule of Law Dialogue which the Federal Ministry of Justice is holding with China and which the BMZ is supporting through a project of its own.

The development agencies of Germany’s two large churches also have projects they are running in China. These projects belong to the part of German development cooperation that is initiated and implemented by non-governmental entities on their own – by the churches, political foundations and numerous non-governmental organisations (NGOs), for instance. This form of German development cooperation, too, receives financial support from the government. The responsibility for implementing the projects rests with the non-governmental executing agencies. Even though they receive government grants, they carry out their work completely independently. In line with our democratic constitution, they make a commitment not to engage in any missionary activity or exert any political influence. When it comes to choosing partners, topics and projects, they decide for themselves how they will use the BMZ funding.

Yes. However, these two projects are not BMZ projects. They are run by the churches (in China by the German Catholic Central Agency for Development Aid, and in Rwanda by the German Protestant Association for Cooperation in Development). When it comes to choosing partners, topics and projects, the churches themselves decide how they will use the BMZ funding.

The BMZ also supports many projects of its own that are geared to gender equality, because societies that respect and support the equality of men and women are more stable and resilient. One focus of Germany’s development cooperation is feminist development policy. As part of that focus, support is provided, for instance, to projects to stop violence against women. In order to achieve lasting success on this front, changes in the way that men view their own role are very important. And that is precisely what is meant by “positive masculinity”. Only if men’s attitudes towards women change will it be possible to continuously reduce violence against women.

The 22 billion US dollars is not the amount for a project supported by the German government. It is the planned financing that South Africa’s public energy provider ESKOM has budgeted for the expansion of the entire power grid in South Africa up to 2029. This expansion is important for feeding the electricity generated by the many new solar and wind power units that are being built using private funding into the power grid.

It is possible that the German government will support a small part of the expansion at some point in the future. Three things should be noted, however:

Firstly, any support of this kind is typically provided as loans that are repaid. This works because investments in grid expansion are not just good for the climate, they also make economic sense.

Secondly, any financing would always only be for a small part of a larger project, never for the entire costs, and it would only be approved after a thorough appraisal.

And thirdly, since 2021 Germany has been one of a growing group of supporters as part of a Just Energy Transition Partnership or JETP. In other words, we are already involved in jointly financing other similar projects as a way to achieve greater impacts.

The JETP between South Africa and an international group of supporters made up of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the US and the EU was concluded in 2021. Since then the Netherlands and Denmark have joined the JETP and other countries, among them Canada, have promised their support. The aim of the JETP is to support South Africa during its energy transition and cushion the social impacts in regions previously dependent on the coal industry. Under the framework of the JETP, South Africa has raised its climate targets, has presented an implementation plan for the energy transition and has adopted climate and energy legislation aimed among other things at enabling equitable access for renewable energies to the power grid. These measures have already caused a boom in solar companies and significantly reduced the number of days with power cuts in South Africa.

No. The BMZ’s cooperation with Nigeria is in other sectors altogether. No BMZ funding goes directly to the Nigerian budget. Nigeria is Africa’s largest and most populous economy. Its growing market is interesting, not least, for Germany’s export industries. At the same time, Nigeria has high levels of poverty and unemployment. That is why the BMZ is working together with Nigeria on training, job creation and private sector development. Cooperation with Nigeria is also becoming more and more important for resolving shared global challenges, for example with regard to addressing the climate crisis, migration policy and the fight against terrorism in the Sahel. All projects are subject to strict safeguards in order to prevent corruption and the misuse of development funding.

In 2022, the BMZ committed a total of 67.5 million euros for bilateral cooperation with Nigeria in the coming years. The complete portfolio of ongoing projects is currently about 570 million euros (in 2023 it was 640 million euros). This includes projects that were started nearly ten years ago and will continue to operate in the coming years. So this is not an annual amount; it is the total value of all projects (grants and loans) over a lengthy period.

Women living in conflict-affected regions in Cameroon often experience sexual harassment, physical violence and rape. Many girls are forced into marriage and genital mutilation also occurs. The situation is especially bad in the “Far North” region, also because of the presence of the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram, and in the “North-West” and “South-West” regions. In these parts of the country many women and also girls are the victims of violence and are forced to live as internally displaced persons.

However, there are also groups in Cameroon that are actively opposing the violence against women and girls and standing up for their rights. Together with the European Union, the BMZ is supporting these groups in a joint project. The support means that they are able, for example, to create places to go for women who have been displaced. In order to move beyond individual projects and engage in activities aimed at making society in Cameroon as a whole more equal, these non-governmental organisations are lobbying, for example, for the parliament in Cameroon to adopt an act outlawing violence against women. They are also trying to get traditional leaders in the “North-West” region to admit women to their traditional council, so that they can work together in the council to resolve or prevent conflicts. This is important because, especially in places where conflicts have already escalated, women, mothers and grandmothers are often the ones calling for peaceful solutions.

All of these activities are being supported by the BMZ and the EU through a project to support civil society participation and gender equality, which was launched in March 2024.

There is no German government funding going to terrorist organisations like Hamas. Nor is the German government providing any unearmarked funding to the Palestinian Authority. German government funding in the Palestinian territories is earmarked for specific projects, and its use is subject to strict criteria.

The strict BMZ safeguards that apply to all projects in the Palestinian territories include close scrutiny – based on a method consisting of several stages – of local partners and their staff, of materials shipped to the Gaza Strip, and of financial flows.

In the current difficult situation, there can be no doubt that Germany must work to ease the suffering of the Palestinians. In the long term, Israelis and Palestinians will only be able to live in peace and security if the other side is able to live in peace and security, too.

Further information about the safeguards applied to development projects in the Palestinian territories can be found in this press release.

If you cut support for food, education or health, you increase human suffering and political and social instability. This adds to the causes of displacement and migration, rather than reducing them.

Development policy serves to reduce inequalities and provide a basis for people to enjoy decent living conditions. In this way, it contributes to peace and security. These are key prerequisites for preventing the displacement of people.

Experience shows that working together with other governments on migration can be facilitated best through more cooperation and communication on the basis of mutual trust, not through pressure and confrontation.

In countries with authoritarian governments, with which cooperation is only possible on a limited scale, our cooperation is already designed in such a way that it reaches the people directly.

There are lots of different figures on the internet.

What is correct is that the BMZ’s budget for 2024, which means the share of tax revenues that the ministry which is responsible for German development cooperation will spend in 2024, is around 11.22 billion euros. That amounts to 2.35 per cent of the total national budget. In 2023, the BMZ had 12.16 billion euros at its disposal; that was about 2.5 per cent of the national budget.

International statistics for ODA (official development assistance) include a broad range of budget expenditure beyond the Development Ministry’s budget. In past years, the BMZ’s share in overall German ODA has always been between 40 and 50 per cent. The second-largest share was humanitarian assistance, which is provided by the Federal Foreign Office.

Another significant item included in ODA statistics is the costs incurred by the federal government, federal states and local authorities in Germany for hosting and supporting refugees from developing countries (6.74 billion euros in 2023). Such costs only count as ODA during the first year of a refugee’s stay. ODA statistics also include the costs to the federal states arising from the provision of higher education places for students from developing countries (1.98 billion euros in 2023).

The rules governing which costs are included in the statistics – and which are not – are based on international agreement reached within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In the OECD statistics for 2023, Germany’s spending on development is recorded as 35.05 billion euros.

In terms of development funding as a proportion of gross national income, Germany ranks fourth behind Norway, Luxembourg and Sweden. Germany’s relatively big development programme is in its own interest. That is also why it has a long tradition, across different coalition governments. As an economy with close international ties worldwide, Germany depends even more than others on fostering sound relations and close partnerships, and resolving global crises peacefully, through cooperation.

Global problems can only be solved through global cooperation. For instance, climate change can only be halted through joint action worldwide. This is an effort that depends particularly on many of our partner countries. If these countries manage to invest immediately in renewable energy instead of taking a detour via fossil fuels, the entire planet will benefit.

The same goes for the global fight against violence and armed conflict, providing support for refugees, and offering assistance to their host countries and countries of origin, as well as for the fight against global pandemics. All of this will only work with more cooperation, not with less.

Development policy pays off financially. World Bank calculations have shown that every euro we spend today to make societies worldwide more resilient to crises will save taxpayers four euros in humanitarian aid in the future. So this investment pays off.

Moreover, it is more important than ever for Germany to have allies and trading partners all over the world with whom we work in mutual respect and partnership. Active development policies lay the foundations for this, and they open doors. Germany’s prosperity has been built on this openness towards the world. Exports account for one in every two euros made in Germany. If Germany wants to remain a strong exporting nation, if we want to continue selling cars, machinery and medicines to other countries, we cannot afford to retreat into our shell.

The list in the answer that the Development Ministry has supplied to the question posed by the parliamentary group (available in German at https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/20/097/2009761.pdf (External link)) is not a systematic list of all current German development projects. It is a list of both older and more recent projects that are related in some way to the topic of data and statistics. Data availability, data management and statistics are playing an increasingly important role for the success of development projects, for instance when it comes to early warning systems for weather disasters and to digital services. The volumes of the projects listed are Germany’s contributions to comprehensive, long-term projects in our partner countries. The following should be noted:

• The total of the project funding in the list is not the same as the total of the federal budget funding spent on the projects. The list includes both budget funding in the form of non-repayable grants and funding in the form of loans. Loans are later repaid by the partner countries. In India, for instance, 90 per cent of the cooperation portfolio consists of loans.
• Moreover, the amounts are not annual funding; they are total funding for the projects in question. Such projects usually run for many years.

No. No money from the BMZ budget is going to BioNTech. The BMZ is not supporting the BioNTech factory. It is assisting the Government of Rwanda in creating a conducive regulatory and economic environment for successful production in Rwanda, both with a view to enabling the new facility to operate well and with a view to being an attractive site for the pharmaceutical industry in Africa overall.

This includes training for pharma industry specialists and capacity building efforts at the national regulatory authority. Through cooperation with Germany’s Paul Ehrlich Institute, the authority is to be enabled to meet the necessary standards of the World Health Organization for the regulatory surveillance of the BioNTech factory and the vaccines produced there. The development of African vaccine production sites is important in order to make sure that the next global health crisis can be addressed better and more equitably. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of international cooperation to prevent and deal with global health crises.

At BioNTech’s vaccine factory, it will be possible to produce a variety of vaccines based on modern mRNA technology, possibly including a malaria vaccine that is still undergoing clinical trials, or maybe, in the longer term, other vaccines that are in particular demand in Africa. The African Union has adopted the target of 60 per cent of all vaccines used in Africa being produced within Africa by 2040. The present figure is only one per cent.

Germany is supporting the establishment of regional vaccine production in Africa. It is not only working together with Rwanda on this, but also with the African Union (AU), Ghana, Senegal and South Africa. Germany’s related activities are closely integrated into European initiatives in this field. The support from the BMZ for the creation of a conducive environment for vaccine production in Rwanda currently totals 53.75 million euros. The BioNTech factory is fully funded by BioNTech itself. The company has stated that it has so far invested about 150 million US dollars in the factory.

No. There is no direct development cooperation with Afghanistan, and no money is going to the Taliban. They do not represent a legitimate government in Afghanistan. After the Taliban seized power on 15 August 2021, Germany stopped its bilateral official development cooperation. However, it is still providing assistance to the people of Afghanistan through multilateral organisations such as the UN and the World Bank, and together with non-governmental organisations. There is no cooperation with the Taliban. No money is channelled through Taliban ministries or authorities.