Preliminary figures show that collectively, the EU – EU institutions and Member States have increased Official Development Assistance (ODA) to EUR 68 billion in 2015 (up 15% from EUR 59 billion in 2014) growing for the third year in a row (and reaching its highest level to date). EU collective ODA represented 0.47% of EU Gross National Income (GNI) in 2015, an increase from 0.43% in 2014. This is significantly above the non-EU Development Assistance Committee (DAC) country average of 0.21% ODA/GNI.
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What do the figures show?
Preliminary figures show that EU collective ODA (EU institutions and Member States) has increased to 68 billion in 2015 (up 15% from 2014) growing for the third year in a row and reaching its highest level to date. EU collective ODA represented 0.47% of EU Gross National Income (GNI) in 2015, an increase from 0.43% in 2014 (and reaching its highest level to date.) This is significantly above the non-EU DAC country average of 0.21% ODA/GNI.
How are the numbers compiled? Who are they compiled by?
The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) is the ultimate authority that decides if expenditure reported to it (by member states or other donors) qualifies as Official Development Assistance (ODA).
The DAC is currently composed of 29 members: Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, USA, 19 EU Member States and the EU. Two EU Member States (i.e. Estonia and Hungary) are non-DAC OECD members, while another seven (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Romania) are neither OECD nor DAC members.
The Commission presents individual data on all EU Member States, including on those whose data are not available through DAC. Otherwise the data published by the OECD and by the Commission are identical. The EU uses the same current price figures as presented by DAC in the publication of preliminary figures for 2015, reconverted from USD to EUR using the DAC exchange rate.
There are two differences in analysing the changes in ODA volumes:
The Commission presents and analyses data in Euro values, while the DAC uses US Dollars. This exchange rate difference in evaluation applies for both global figures and individual Member States.
The Commission uses values in nominal terms (current prices) for presenting changes. The DAC presents data both in constant prices and nominal terms, but calculates changes only in constant prices and exchange rates. Note that ODA to GNI ratios are not affected by the above differences.
In addition to the EU28 ODA presented by the DAC, the Commission also presents the EU collective ODA, which is a sum of the ODA reported by the EU Member States and the additional ODA provided by the EU institutions. Most of the EU institutions’ ODA spending is, for the purposes of ODA/GNI reporting, imputed to EU Member States, i.e. Member States data include part of the institutions’ spending. The ODA provided through European Investment Bank (EIB) own resources is not imputed to Member States and is additional to the Member States’ ODA.
Why is the data preliminary?
The data presented is based on information that OECD and Commission have received from Member States in recent weeks. Additional information on the details of funds and programmes for 2015 will be reported to and checked by DAC over the course of 2016. Final 2015 ODA figures with a detailed breakdown should be published by OECD DAC in December 2016.
Further information
On the Eurobarometer:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-428_en.htm
OECD press release: http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/development-aid-rises-again-in-2015-spending-on-refugees-doubles.htm
