How much does Canada spend on foreign aid? The Government of Canada provided Cdn$5.5 billion in foreign aid to developin
Strengthening Support for Small-Scale Farmers
WHAT DOES CANADA’S AID SPENDING LOOK LIKE? The Canadian Foodgrains Bank recognizes the value of Canada’s aid for agriculture, and is concerned that it is in decline. To put that in perspective, here’s some background information on Canada’s aid spending.
1. How much does Canada spend on foreign aid? The Government of Canada provided Cdn$5.5 billion in foreign aid to developing countries in 2013. This represents 0.27 percent of Canada’s Gross National Income (GNI). This is less than the average of other aid donor countries (0.3 percent) and far below the United Nations target of 0.7 percent. Figure 1 shows the trend in Canada’s aid spending over ten years.
Figure 1 - Trend in Canada’s total aid and aid as share of GNI
0.40 0.35
5000
0.30 4000
0.25
3000
0.20
2000
0.15
% of GNI
Constant 2012 USD billion
6000
0.10 1000 0
0.05 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Amount of Aid (left axis)
0.00
Aid as a % of GNI (right axis)
Data for 2013-2015 is based on Government of Canada projections
2. What are the main channels for foreign aid? Most of Canada’s foreign aid is handled by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD), which includes the former CIDA. Within DFATD, most aid is either directed to individual countries (bilateral) or to multi-country organizations and programs (multilateral). The money that the Canadian Foodgrains Bank receives from the government comes from DFATDbilateral. Other departments such as Finance Canada and IDRC (International Development Research Centre) disburse some aid.
WHAT DOES CANADA’S AID SPENDING LOOK LIKE? CANADIAN FOODGRAINS BANK GOOD SOIL CAMPAIGN
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Figure 2 - Channels of Canadian aid spending 2012-13 (million $ Cdn)
DFATD bilateral DFATD multilateral DFATD other Finance Canada IDRC Other departments 0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
The “other departments” category includes debt forgiveness and support for refugees.
3. Where does Canada’s foreign aid go? Figure 3 - Canada’s aid distribution by geographical region
Figure 4 - Top 10 recipient countries for Canada’s aid in 2012
Latin America & Caribbean - 18% Sub-Saharan Africa - 38% North Africa & Middle East - 4% Asia & Oceania - 18% Europe - 2% Multi-region - 21% Million US Dollars
4. What does Canada spend aid on? Figure 5 - Percentage of aid by sector, 2012-13 Other 30.0%
Productive Sector 10%
Humanitarian Aid 9.6% Agriculture 6.3%
Governance, social infrastructure 10.7% Finance 2.2 % Forest/fish 0.4% Industry 1.6% Transport, energy, environment 12.3%
Trade 0.5%
Minin g&i nd F o r e stry & fis Finan ce - 2 .2% Agr i c u l t ure 6.3 Othe r - 30 % Hu m a n itaria n Aid
Go
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ransp ort, s t
Educ
Education, health, sanitation, population 26.5 %
verna nce
ation , he
“Other” spending includes support for refugees, debt relief and aid to multiple sectors
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WHAT DOES CANADA’S AID SPENDING LOOK LIKE? CANADIAN FOODGRAINS BANK GOOD SOIL CAMPAIGN
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5. What’s the trend in Canada’s aid for food security and agriculture? Canada initiated a substantial increase in funding for food security (agriculture, food assistance and nutrition) in 2009. Over the next three years (2008/09 through 2010/11) investment in agriculture doubled compared to the three previous years. Support for food assistance and nutrition also increased significantly. Since 2010/11, support for food assistance and nutrition has remained strong, while support for agriculture has declined considerably. Figure 6 - Canada’s aid spending on Food Security (Agriculture, Food assistance and Nutrition) 2005-2013 500
Million $ Cdn per year
450 400 350 300
2005-2008
250
2008-2011
200
2011-2013
150 100 50 0
Nutrition
Food Assistance
Agriculture
6. What are the main components of agricultural aid? Canada’s agricultural aid is focused on research and extension for domestic food crop production. A 2013 assessment found that Canada’s aid was well-targeted to help smallholder farmers and to improve food security.
Figure 7 - Components of Canada’s agricultural aid, 2012-13, million $ Cdn
WHAT DOES CANADA’S AID SPENDING LOOK LIKE? CANADIAN FOODGRAINS BANK GOOD SOIL CAMPAIGN
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7. Where could increased aid for agriculture come from? Increasing aid for agriculture does not necessarily mean cutting other areas. Canada could restore some of the money cut from the aid budget, which fell by 12 percent ($673 million) between 2010 and 2015. In addition DFATD should spend the money allocated for aid, rather than let it lapse. DFATD returned over $300 million of unspent funds to the central treasury over the past two years. ($41M in 2011-12, $291M in 2012-13).
Data is for the 2012-13 fiscal year or 2013 calendar year, which is the last year for which data is available. Data is taken from: • • • •
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development: http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/ Canadian government: http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/reports Fertile Ground: Assessing CIDA’s Investments in Food and Farming, 2013. Food Security Policy Group http://www.ccic.ca/working_groups/food_e.php Leveraging Open Data to Analyze Canada’s Development Expenditure. 2014. North-South Institute www.nsi-ins.ca
WHAT DOES CANADA’S AID SPENDING LOOK LIKE? CANADIAN FOODGRAINS BANK GOOD SOIL CAMPAIGN
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