Top story

Rich countries increasingly the recipients of their own aid, according to OECD DAC data

According to preliminary data for 2022, total official development assistance (ODA) rose to US$ 204 billion in 2022 - an increase of 13.6 per cent. 

However, most of the increase is due to hosting refugees in donor countries (US$ 29 billion, equivalent to 14.4 per cent of total ODA), which has rocketed following the Russian war in Ukraine. It is also due to donor countries charging their ODA budgets for excess vaccines that were stockpiled, then ‘donated’ to poor countries (US$ 1.5 billion); and to debt relief on parts of loans that recipient countries are repaying (US$ 116 million). All of this has inflated ODA levels. 

Read the press release here. 

News

Reaction: IMF/WB Spring Meetings 2023 - So-called ‘reforms’ create greater dependence on private finance and increase debt burdens

Amidst mounting concerns that the debt crisis is spiraling out of control, decisions made at last week's Spring Meetings will not substantially change anything, especially for countries with large debts owed to multilateral development banks. Instead, reforms currently being discussed will open the way to greater dependance on private finance, and increase their debt burdens.

Read the press release here.

Read the reaction by APMDD here.

Read an analysis by Bretton Woods Project here.

The debt games - Is there a way out of the maze?

This week, Eurodad launched a new video and accompanying explainer titled: The Debt Games - is there a way out of the maze? These were launched on Tuesday during the UN Financing for Development Forum in New York, where reform of the debt architecture was high on the agenda.

Watch the video and read the explainer here.

Reports

World Bank's Digitalization of Aid: Multiplying risks and threats for women and girls?

by Reality of Aid

This publication looks into the World Bank’s approach to ‘digital development’ and how it leads to more risks than benefits for marginalized populations, especially women, as evidenced by cases in India and the Philippines. Furthermore, it provides recommendations to development actors for a rights-based, people-centred digitalisation.

Read the publication here. 

Useful resources

UN Financing for Development Forum 2023

This week, Eurodad joined members and partners at the UN Financing for Development Forum in New York. It is a unique space to discuss issues of development finance and global economic governance where all countries can contribute to shaping the agenda. Civil society can also intervene in the discussions. A large number of CSOs that actively participate in this space, including Eurodad, have organised themselves into the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism.

Watch the videos of the interventions here.

Watch a video on the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism here. 

Read the daily newsletter from the CSO FfD Mechanism here.

The Growing Burden of IMF Surcharges

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) imposes additional fees on loans to its most indebted middle-income borrowers, on top of regular interest payments and service fees. These “surcharges” — which add an extra 2 or 3 percentage points to borrowers’ interest rates — divert scarce resources from other potential expenditures such as health, climate adaptation, and poverty reduction at the very time when these countries have the most liquidity constraints.

Read an updated estimate of surcharges at country level by the Center for Economic and Policy Research here.

Read a letter signed by more than 300 CSOs calling IMF Managing Director to respond to the concerns of the UN Human Rights Council and Stop Surcharges policy here.

Climate Action Network & Partners Launch Joint Principles For Finance System Transformation

by Climate Action Network International

Currently, there is no realistic expectation that climate finance will be delivered at the scale or urgency required by communities on the frontline of this crisis. Governments and financial institutions cannot continue the business-as-usual approach in global finance and expect to get different results. Therefore, it’s time to change the financial system. Eurodad and its members contributed to seven joint principles for a finance system transformation.

Read the principles here.

This newsletter has been produced with co-funding from the European Union, Bread for the World and Norad. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Eurodad and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the funders.