In 2020, official development assistance (ODA) by member countries of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) amounted to USD 161.2 billion, representing 0.32% of their combined GNI. This total included USD 158.0 billion in the form of grants, loans to sovereign entities, debt relief and contributions to multilateral institutions (calculated on a grant-equivalent basis); USD 1.3 billion to development-oriented private sector instrument (PSI) vehicles and USD 1.9 billion in the form of net loans and equities to private companies operating in ODA-eligible countries.
Total ODA in 2020 rose by 3.5% in real terms compared to 2019, reaching its highest level ever recorded. The increase is in part due to DAC members’ support of an inclusive global recovery in light of the pandemic and in part due to an increase in bilateral sovereign lending by some loan-giving members. Most donors had adopted their ODA budgets for 2020 by the time the pandemic hit, and were able to maintain their planned ODA commitments. In addition, some were able to rapidly mobilize additional funding to support developing countries face exceptional circumstances. Initial estimates indicate that within total ODA, DAC countries spent USD 12 billion in 2020 on COVID-19 related activities. EU Institutions disbursed USD 9 billion.
The United States continued to be the largest DAC donor of ODA (USD 35.5 billion), followed by Germany (USD 28.4 billion), the United Kingdom (USD 18.6 billion), Japan (USD 16.3 billion) and France (USD 14.1 billion). The following countries met or exceeded the United Nations’ ODA as a percentage of GNI target of 0.7%: Denmark (0.73%), Germany (0.73%), Luxembourg (1.02%), Norway (1.11%), Sweden (1.14%) and the United Kingdom (0.70%).
In 2020, total ODA for all DAC member countries combined as a per cent of GNI stood at 0.32%, up from 0.30% in 2019. In-donor refugee costs amounted to USD 9.0billion in 2020, a decrease of 9.5% in real terms compared to 2019. Excluding these costs, ODA rose by 4.4% in real terms. Costs for in-donor refugees represented more than 10% of total ODA for Canada, Iceland and the Netherlands, and for France, Germany and Switzerland it was over 8%.
ODA rose in sixteen DAC member countries, with some substantially increasing their budgets to support developing countries face the pandemic. Large increases were noted in Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Norway, Slovak Republic, Sweden and Switzerland. It fell in thirteen countries, with the largest drops in Australia, Greece, Italy, Korea, Luxembourg, Portugal and the United Kingdom. G7 donors provided 76% of total ODA and DAC-EU countries 45%. ODA from the nineteen DAC countries that are EU members was USD 72.7 billion, an increase of 7.8% in real terms compared to 2019, and represented 0.50% of their combined GNI.
Total ODA by EU Institutions rose significantly by 25.4% in real terms as it mobilized a significant amount of additional funds for COVID-19 related activities and whose sovereign lending increased by 136% in real terms over 2019.
Greece
According to the preliminary data, the Official Development Assistance (ODA) of Greece in the year 2020 amounted to USD 238 million, 0.13% of its Gross National Income (GNI).
More information: https://www.oecd.org/newsroom/covid-19-spending-helped-to-lift-foreign-aid-to-an-all-time-high-in-2020-but-more-effort-needed.htm