Italian cooperation: global public aid stagnates as Italy cuts 631 million

ROMA – In 2023, official development assistance (ODA) from rich countries remained essentially stationary, with growth of just 1.8%, largely due to humanitarian and financial support for the crisis in Ukraine. Therefore, no significant new effort has been made to provide the poorest countries – often affected by war, famine and the impact of climate chaos – with key resources to guarantee essential goods and services such as healthcare and education to hundreds of millions of people.

The role of Italy. For its part, Italy stands out in a particularly negative way. In fact, our country goes from 0.33% of ODA in 2022 to 0.27% in 2023 in relation to gross national income, with a cut of 631 million dollars. This is what was reported by Oxfam following the publication of the new preliminary data for 2023 by the Development Assistance CommitteeOECD. “Once again, rich countries, including Italy, have betrayed their promises of aid and are set to fail to respect international commitments, made and reaffirmed in every forum. An absolutely irresponsible position. – said Francesco Petrelli spokesperson and political advisor on development finance Oxfam Italy – in fact, it is not a question of a lack of resources, but of the political will to allocate them to this commitment or to identify additional sources of financing to support public spending. Just think – he added – of the possibility of taxing the large assets of the 0.1% of the richest citizens which would allow Italy to have additional revenue of between 13.2 and 15.7 billion per year”.

A world of now unbearable imbalances. “We live in a world in which, in just one month, the richest men on the planet increase their fortunes by tens of billions of dollars – Petrelli said – while tens of thousands of women in the poorest countries in the world die in childbirth. or during pregnancy. Is there clearer evidence of the enormous injustices and inequalities we are witnessing?” Almost a third of Italian aid remains in our country to cover the costs of welcoming migrants. At the same time, the trend is confirmed for Italy where a large part of the ODA is destined to cover the reception of asylum seekers , resources which therefore remain within national borders, without the necessary allocation of additional resources: from 1480 million in 2022 to 1,609 million in 2023, approximately 27% of the total Italian public aid for the past year.

The weight of migratory pressure. These numbers are obviously affected by the increase in arrivals across the Mediterranean, which went from 104 thousand in 2022 to the record number of 155 thousand in 2023, but there remains clear evidence: however, these are resources that once again are not allocated to poor countries . “Of course “Mattei Plan”, added Francesco Petrelli, “for Africa, bilateral aid is also decreasing. Despite the promises of a new Mattei Plan by the Government, reiterated during the Italy-Africa Conference last January, the preliminary data for 2023 provided by the OECD are clear – continues Petrelli – Our country has gone from the allocation of 515 million in ’22 for bilateral aid to African countries at 351 million in ’23 (-32%).

The decline in resources and the increase in needs. The same goes for the funds allocated to the so-called low-development countries (LDCs), i.e. the poorest and most fragile, which drop from 381 million dollars in 2022 to 265 in 2022 (-30%); as well as for aid intended to deal with the most serious humanitarian crises which dropped by as much as 143 million, going from 398 million to 255 (-36%). Despite the fact that humanitarian needs are clearly growing in light of the very serious humanitarian crises that are taking place at an international level”.

Constraints on the multilateral front. Finally, in general terms, despite the Government’s declarations – as explicitly certified by the OECD – it is precisely the bilateral aid directed from Italy to developing countries that overall drops by almost 25%; while the disbursement on the multilateral front remains constant, i.e. the Italian funds destined for international organizations specialized in cooperation, with which there are agreements that cannot be disregarded.

The allocation of 0.70 only from 5 countries. The always absurd and cumbersome procedures for the allocation of resources damage the potential and capacity of the Cooperation and civil society actors. Among the OECD donor countries, the 0.70% allocation target was met by only 5 countries: Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Germany and Denmark. In the meantime, the maintenance of the solemn commitments made over 50 years ago and reaffirmed in 2015 with the UN 2030 Agenda for sustainable development remains a mirage. In particular, that of reaching 0.70% of the gross national income in development aid. On average, rich countries allocated only 0.37% of their global gross national income to development aid in 2023, compared to 0.36% in 2022: going from 211 billion dollars to 223.7 for the year last. The 21 donor countries of the European Union, with a total of 92.6 billion dollars, reach an average of 0.52% in the ODA/GNI (gross national income) ratio and represent 41% of the global total. The USA alone accounts for 30%.

The appeal to Italy. “From these data – adds Ivana Borsotto, spokeswoman for the Campagna 070, – it is clear that Italy does not keep its word. Instead of increasing investments in international cooperation while maintaining the commitment to allocate 0.70% to development aid, we are going backwards. With a particularly severe decline for Africa and the most fragile countries. But which Mattei Plan – underlines Ivana Borsotto –Where do promises, declarations and commitments go? We therefore ask the Government and Parliament, in a spirit of dialogue, for more coherence and determination in changing gear, starting with the next Budget Law. In the name of Italy’s credibility and responsibility in the world and towards Africa”.