ODA OECD statistics show that Germany continues to be a reliable partner for development cooperation
One reason for exceeding the target is the special funding that the German government has provided to overcome the impact of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. This funding has been provided in the form of civilian assistance for Ukraine itself and also as support for those countries worst affected by the hunger and energy crisis triggered by the war.
Development Minister Svenja Schulze said, “The latest figures published by the OECD for official development assistance show that Germany is shouldering its share of responsibility. That is an important signal to the international community. In these times of confrontation it is important that Germany stays present and keeps working with its partners in order to find global solutions. The propaganda from Russia aimed at African countries and saying that Europe is only concerned with its own needs now is just not true. Whereas Russia has triggered the hunger crisis happening around the world with its war of aggression, Germany has been committed to helping find solutions and has mobilised significant additional funding. These figures are black and white proof of that. The ODA statistics are an important yardstick of global solidarity. But they are given as percentages and they are not very meaningful per se. When it comes to successfully addressing global challenges, the absolute numbers also count. Our development work will continue to require sufficient and sustainable funding in the years to come as well. Because development policy capability is in the German interest and is an integral part of a comprehensive understanding of security.”
This is the fourth time that, as reported by the OECD, Germany has achieved the internationally agreed target of contributing 0.7 per cent of its GNI towards promoting economic and social development in developing countries, having also met the target in 2016, 2020 and 2021. This funding goal was agreed in 1972 at the UN level.
A major share of the increase has been because of the response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. In February 2022, for example, just from the budget of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) around 600 million euros was made available for Ukraine and 112 million euros was made available to promote stability in the Republic of Moldova. In order to mitigate the consequences of the war on the food situation worldwide, in 2022 the BMZ also made additional investments in global food security worth around 1.4 billion euros. Total funding for food security was 3.5 billion euros, more than ever provided before.
The financing provided to support refugees in Germany has also increased significantly, from 2.3 billion euros to 3.6 billion euros. The main reason for this is because of the Ukrainian refugees that Germany has been hosting during the past year. Vaccine donations on the other hand, which were still an important factor in the statistics for 2021, have become less important as the pandemic has run its course: the envisaged amount fell from around 586 million euros to 169 million euros.
Of the 33.3 billion euros in ODA contributions last year, 13.8 billion euros came from the budget of the BMZ. Other ministries also contribute to Germany’s ODA balance sheet – in particular the Federal Foreign Office, which is responsible for humanitarian assistance. Apart from the government measures that are counted as ODA, payments to cover the study costs of students from developing countries studying in Germany are also one of the contributions included in the statistics.
As in previous years, Germany is still the second-biggest bilateral donor worldwide in absolute terms, after the US and before Japan, the United Kingdom and France. The OECD is expected to publish the final ODA figures for 2022 at the end of 2023.
For more information go to www.oecd.org/dac (External link)