International Day for the Eradication of Poverty brought stark news. The average value of economic aid provided by the European Union last year aimed at fighting world poverty dropped 4%.
According to a recent Aid Watch report by the NGO CONCORD, EU countries offered €50.6 billion towards helping underdeveloped nations in 2012. This figure represents 0.39% of the countries’ average gross domestic income (GDI).
“EU’s foreign aid dropped to the lowest levels registered since 2007 and Aid Watch predicts that it will remain stagnant at values around 0.43% of the EU’s GDI during 2013 and 2013,” said a statement from the Portuguese non-governmental organisation platform ONGD.
The private association stressed that the cuts to official development assistance (ODA) would likely jeopardise the fight against international poverty and that ODA values decreased or stagnated in 19 of the 27 EU member-states.
In Portugal, the ODA represented €472 million – meaning the value of aid dropped 13.1% compared to 2011.
However, the report shows some countries have increased external aid: Latvia (17%), Luxembourg (14%), Poland (14%), Austria (8%), Lithuania (8) and the UK (7%).
