Finland's use of development cooperation appropriations increased in 2014
Press release 96/2015
8 April 2015
(The press release was revised on 9 April at 17.15 concerning the figures on humanitarian aid and Ebola pandemic.)
Finland used a total of EUR 1.23 billion to development cooperation in 2014. This represented 0.6 per cent of Finland's gross national income (GNI). The figure also covers expenses arising from the reception of refugees, Finland's share of the EU budget, and other expenditure in different administrative areas collated in statistics under development cooperation.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD will launch the preliminary annual Official Development Assistance (ODA) statistics of 2014 today.
Finland's development cooperation disbursements increased on the previous year by EUR 150 million. The appropriations approved in the budget remained on the same level as in the previous year. The amount of available resources increased on account of, among other things, the growth of income acquired from emissions trading transactions and, thanks to the raising of the efficiency of public services, more efficient use of appropriations carried over from the previous years. The increased resources were channelled above all to humanitarian crises and improvement of the position of girls and women.
In 2014, Finland granted a record amount of nearly EUR 106 million from the humanitarian aid item of the budget allocation table. The share of the Ebola pandemic of the disbursements rose to a total of EUR 10 million. Also the support to international organizations, fragile states and Finnfund increased.
In 2014, Finland directed its assistance especially to the promotion of equality and the rights of girls and women through the UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund UNFPA. The main recipient of Finland's development cooperation UNFPA was directed nearly EUR 51 million of core funding and funding for country-specific projects.
In 2014, the Government channelled a total of EUR 69 million acquired from emissions trading transactions to development cooperation and international financing related to climate change.
The biggest recipients of Finland's development cooperation appropriations in 2014 were Kenya (c. MEUR 40), Tanzania (c. MEUR 39), Ethiopia and Afghanistan (c. MEUR 28), Nepal (c. MEUR 25), Zambia (c. MEUR 21), Mozambique (c. MEUR 20) and Somalia (c. MEUR 18). The figures include both intergovernmental development cooperation, a part of NGOs'/CSOs' country-specific cooperation and country-specific projects carried out via the UN agencies.
Additional information: Director General of the Department for Development Policy Pekka Puustinen, [email protected], tel. +358 295 350 560 and Director of the Unit for Administrative and Legal Development Cooperation Matters Lotta Karlsson, [email protected], tel. +358 295 351 932