Rich nations reverse aid cuts to poorest
11/4/2024: Official development assistance to least developed countries and sub-Saharan Africa rose last year, OECD figures show — after much-criticized falls in 2022. Five countries achieved the UN target to spend 0.7% of gross national income on aid — Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Sweden, and Germany.
Source: Devex
UK spends quarter of foreign aid on asylum seeker costs
10/4/2024: Expenditure on administrative and accommodation costs for housing asylum seekers continues to hinder UK aid for the world's poorest countries. The UK spent nearly five times more on asylum seeker costs in 2023 than its bilateral support for humanitarian needs.
Source: Reliefweb
Zambia’s fossil-fuel subsidy cuts help climate and kids – but taxi drivers suffer
2/4/2024: Under pressure from the IMF, the Zambian government has redirected subsidies into education, welfare and debt reduction, leaving fuel-heavy sectors with higher costs. The IMF argues that subsidies for oil and gas make climate change worse, while also being expensive, and skewed towards helping the rich more than the poor.
Source: Climate Home News
Paris Club creditors cancel $2 billion of Somali debt
14/3/2024: Somalia has secured an agreement with the Paris Club of creditor nations to cancel more than $2 billion in debt. The deal follows a decision by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank that Somalia has reached the "completion point" for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative.
Source: VoA
Rising concern over UK aid spending on asylum-seeker hotel bills
14/3/2024: The UK is diverting £3.2 billion from its foreign aid budget to pay the hotel bills of asylum seekers, defying international pressure to stop this accounting ruse. The OECD has warned that these costs may not be eligible for its assessment of UK foreign aid.
Source: Devex
Onerous debt making poorest countries poorer
31/1/2024: Recent modest progress in reducing extreme poverty and food insecurity has slowed sharply, or even reversed in many of the world’s poorest countries. As a debt crisis looms, much more concessional finance and other resources are needed for these countries to develop.
Source: Inter Press Service
A new global plan to ease debt-burdened countries
1/1/2024: Africa stands at a critical juncture, with more than half of its 54 countries allocating more resources to debt service than to health expenditure. The UN Secretary-General has acknowledged this challenge and called for an annual stimulus of at least $500 billion to offset the negative market conditions that developing nations face.
Source: PassBlue
Ethiopia becomes third African state to default on sovereign debt
26/12/2023: Ethiopia has defaulted on a coupon payment due on its only international government bond, having been under severe financial strain in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and its two-year civil war. Ethiopia will join Zambia and Ghana in a full-scale "Common Framework" for debt restructuring.
Source: The East African
Somalia secures $4.5bn debt relief from lenders
10/12/2023: The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have led the way to reducing Somalia's debt to $600 million from a high of $5.2 billion, under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative. Over the past few weeks, Somalia has also been admitted to the East African Community and the UN has lifted its arms embargo.
Source: The East African
Greenpeace identifies nine principles for societies beyond GDP
23/11/2023: Greenpeace has published “Growing the Alternatives: Societies for a Future Beyond GDP”, a set of principles that put the wellbeing of nature, people and society before the need for making profit and growing Gross Domestic Product. GDP rewards waste and pollution and does not take into account vital aspects such as people’s wellbeing or the limits of nature.
Source: Greenpeace International