MFA: Finland used EUR 956 million for development cooperation in 2016

MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
http://formin.finland.fi/english

Press release 67/2017
11 April 2017

Finland used EUR 956 million for development cooperation in 2016

Finland used EUR 956 million for development cooperation in 2016,  according to preliminary data on Finland’s development cooperation. In 2016, development cooperation accounted for 0.44 per cent of gross national income. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) today released preliminary data for 2016.

Of development cooperation funds, EUR 382 million was channelled as general support for development cooperation through multilateral actors (among others, the EU, UN agencies, the World Bank Group).  Finland’s largest development cooperation partner countries in 2016 were Afghanistan (about EUR 27 million), Nepal (20), Ethiopia (18) and Tanzania (18). A total of EUR 84 million was allocated for humanitarian aid in 2016.

Altogether, appropriations countable as development cooperation decreased from the previous year by 18 per cent. The exclusive ODA (official development assistance) administered by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs fell by 30 per cent. In percentage terms, the greatest decreases in this occurred in multilateral cooperation assistance (-60%) and support for CSOs (-39%). The share of humanitarian aid out of all exclusive ODA increased to 14 per cent.

Other public development cooperation disbursements rose by 50 per cent. In 2016, costs arising from the reception of refugees, included in development cooperation funding, came to EUR 118 million, which represented approximately 12 per cent of Finland’s total disbursements for development cooperation. Finland’s share of the European Union’s development cooperation budget was EUR 143 million.

There wasn’t yet enough time for additional allocations for financial investments, made in 2016, to have a significant effect on disbursements realised.

EU countries’ development assistance increased

According to statistics of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the development assistance given by its member countries totalled EUR 129 billion in 2016. The sum increased by 8.9 per cent compared to 2015. Of the assistance, EUR 22 billion was allocated to assisting the world's least developed countries.

Public development cooperation disbursements by the EU countries totalled EUR 73.5 billion in 2016. This was 0.51 per cent of EU countries’ gross national income. Disbursements increased from the previous year by 13.1 per cent. Development assistance from all OECD member countries averaged 0.32 per cent of gross national income.

The largest development aid donors were the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Japan. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and Germany reached the UN objective of at least 0.7 per cent of gross national income.

Net development assistance rose in 17 EU countries and fell in four EU countries. Despite the decrease, Finland’s ratio of development assistance to gross national income (0.44 per cent) was the eighth highest in the EU.

Inquiries: Deputy Director General Riikka Laatu, Department for Development Policy, tel +358 40 351 1703, Director Lotta Karlsson, Unit for Administrative and Legal Development Cooperation Matters, tel +358 46 921 0557.

The Foreign Ministry's email addresses are of the format firstname.lastname@formin.fi.