Aid to Developing Countries Picking Up Despite Financial Crisis

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria presents the new economic outlook on June 24, 2009 at the OECD headquarters in Paris. Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images

GOTHENBURG, Sweden—While many donor countries are still recovering from the recent financial crisis, overall aid to developing countries rose in 2009 to a total of $119.6 billion, according to a report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published on April 14.

In 2009, the largest donor was the United States, providing $28.7 billion, followed by France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

In terms of percentage of Gross National Income (GNI), Sweden tops the list of high GNI-level donors by contributing $4.5 billion, or 1.12 percent of its GNI.

The Swedish Minister of Development Assistance Gunilla Carlsson said in a statement upon the report’s release that the Swedish government protects its aid policy even during financial crisis.

Norway, Luxembourg, Denmark, and the Netherlands are some of the other countries that also surpassed the United Nation target that every developed nation should contribute aid representing at least 0.7 percent of its GNI.

The OECD’s projection for overall aid in 2010 is estimated to be $126 billion, representing 0.36 percent of total GNI for member countries, which represents the commitments made at the Gleneagle G8 and Millennium + 5 Summits in 2005.