Poland among countries contributing the least to development aid

Poland is still among the countries that channel the least amount of resources towards development aid amongst the members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) despite the fact that it slightly increased its contribution in 2020 compared to 2019.

Preliminary OECD data indicates that in 2020 Poland spent US$803 million on official development assistance (ODA), allocating 0.14% of its Gross National Income (GNI). In 2019 it channeled US$669 million, accounting for 0.12% of its GNI.

However, Poland was still among the OECD countries that contribute the least, ranking 25th out of the 30 countries of the Development Assistance Committee within the OECD and 20th in terms of the amount contributed.

In 2020, Poland allocated the most ODA resources to Ukraine followed by Belarus, Turkey, Tanzania, India, Mongolia, China, Lebanon, Albania, Nigeria, Georgia, Kenya, Moldova, Ethiopia, and Senegal. In 2019, its ODA was used for training and scholarships (59% ), development assistance (16%), humanitarian assistance (10%), loans (10%), the costs of the livelihood of refugees living in Poland (2%) and global education (0.2%). In terms of refugee assistance, Poland contributes to the EU mechanism to assist Syrian refugees living in Turkey.

According to OECD estimation “Poland has low but stable contribution in international development aid”

However, according to the Polish Supreme Audit Office (Najwyższa Izba Kontroli), the government is notorious for overstating the amount spent on development aid by including in the ODA budget expenses that actually covered scholarships for Asian and African students studying in Poland, the importing of Polish goods or loans issued to developing countries that were subsequently written off.

While the UN promotes that spending on development aid should not be less than 0.7% of the GNI of contributing countries, Poland is far from reaching this target and so far the government has not declared that it has any intention of meeting it. According to the “Long-term program of development aid” (“Wieloletni program wspołpracy rozwojowej”) for 2021-2030, Poland will double its outlay on development assistance by 2030 to reach 0.33% of GNI.