New AidWatch report is published: “Penalty against Poverty: More and Better EU aid can score Millennium Development Goals”
A new AidWatch report entitled “Penalty against Poverty: More and Better EU aid can score Millennium Development Goals” is published. AidWatch is an initiative of CONCORD, European confederation on non-governemntal organisations, working in the field of international development cooperation and humanitarian aid. AidWatch monitors the quality and quantity of official development assistance (ODA) of EU member states and European Commission. As a member of SLOGA, Ekvilib Institute actively contributes to AidWatch report, both on national as well as European level. This year's report for Slovenia was prepared by Ekvilib's staff member Anita Ramšak.
This year's report notes that the amount of aid in 2009 decreased for € 1 billion compared with the previous year. Aid in the EU Member States ammounted for on average 0.42% of GDP and the forecast for 2010 does not show excessive improvements. In 2010, official aid is supposed to amount to 0,46% of GDP, far off the common goal of 0,56%. At the same time the official aid figures are inflated by almost 8% of total aid. This economic crisis can not be an excuse, because the EU members have given substantial assistance to the financial sector, as well as some countries have managed to increase their official development assistance.