Author: Julia Sun
Sweden has long been regarded by some as a model country for development cooperation and is a strong advocate of development effectiveness, poverty reduction and sustainable development. On November 8, the first budget announced by the new government after taking office increased overall expenditure, but the international development aid budget was cut. What does this mean?
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In September this year, Sweden's centre-right Moderate United Party, the Christian Democrats and the Liberal Party won the general election and formed a minority government. In October, Sweden's new Prime Minister Ryk Kristersson announced the list of the new cabinet and issued a policy address. Kristersson said the new government must respond quickly in terms of combating crime, promoting economic growth, ensuring energy supply security and joining NATO.
On November 8, the first budget announced by the new government after taking office increased overall expenditure, but the international development aid budget was reduced. The new Swedish government plans to reduce the international development budget by 7.3 billion kronor (approximately 673 million U.S. dollars) in 2023, and further reduce it by 2.2 billion kronor (approximately 210 million U.S. dollars) in 2024. Compared with the budget of the previous left-wing government, the development aid budget of the new government has dropped by approximately 15%, which means that the new Swedish government no longer targets a gross national income (GNI) of 1% as a foreign aid expenditure target.
Sweden is the eighth largest donor country in the OECD DAC
Sweden is the eighth largest donor to the OECD DAC. In 2021, Sweden's official development assistance (ODA) was US$5.9 billion (current prices), accounting for 0.92% of gross national income. Since 1975, Sweden's official development assistance expenditure as a share of gross national income has exceeded the United Nations target of 0.7%. Since 2008, Sweden has maintained a long-term commitment of spending approximately 1% of gross national income on official development assistance. The previous government's official development assistance budget for 2022 was 57.4 billion Swedish krona (approximately US$6.2 billion), an increase of 10% compared with 2021.
Swedish foreign aid focuses on eight focus areas: human rights, democracy and the rule of law, gender equality, environment and climate change, peace and security, inclusive economic development, migration and development, health equity, and education and research.
What are the positive elements of the new development policy?
Improving the predictability of Sweden’s official development assistance (ODA) budget. Since 2008, the Swedish government’s official development assistance expenditure has remained at around 1% of gross national income. The new government's official development assistance budget will no longer be linked to the proportion of GNI, but will shift to a fixed budget amount set for a three-year budget period.
This approach, on the one hand, increases the predictability of aid spending and enables the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to plan medium-term expenditures and projects more reliably. On the other hand, this also means the risk of a downward trend in the scale of aid. If aid expenditure is no longer linked to the proportion of gross national income, the total official development assistance budget may face the risk of further reductions.
Poverty reduction has become a key goal of Swedish development policy. There are signs that the new government intends to put poverty reduction at the center of development policy. This move shows to some extent that the new Swedish government intends to continue to vigorously promote the commitment of "leaving no one behind".
A recent peer review of Sweden by the OECD DAC affirmed Sweden's practice of directing 63% of bilateral official development assistance to least developed countries, which is much higher than the 39% average among DAC member countries. Peer reviews also affirmed Sida's multidimensional approach to defining and addressing poverty in all its forms. Although there are questions about how to achieve poverty reduction, making poverty reduction a key goal of official development assistance undoubtedly sends a positive signal.
What controversies does the new development policy face?
The COVID-19 epidemic has brought unprecedented impacts and challenges to the world. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has had a profound impact on the humanitarian situation and geopolitics in Europe, leading to imminent energy and food crises. In the face of such huge challenges, it is particularly regrettable that Sweden, which has long provided large amounts of humanitarian assistance, has cut its aid budget.
The new government plans to reduce financial support to multilateral agencies such as the United Nations and instead prioritize cooperation with civil society organizations. Sweden has made excellent efforts over the years to promote the effectiveness of multilateral institutions. While the new administration still makes UN reform a priority, reducing funding for multilateral institutions could run counter to that goal.
Furthermore, a shift toward supporting civil society organizations due to “lower corruption risks” is well-intentioned but may also impact fragile public institutions in partner countries. The 2019 OECD DAC peer review of Swedish development cooperation concluded that Sweden is a "valuable, long-term partner" for civil society organizations, but that Sweden still has much to do in working with developing country governments and leveraging government systems. room for improvement.
What uncertainties will the new development policy bring?
Sweden has announced that it will no longer pursue a "feminist foreign policy." In 2014, former Foreign Minister Margot Wallström first proposed applying a gender equality perspective to foreign policy and it was widely used. Diana Janse, Sweden’s new State Secretary for International Development, believes that promoting and implementing feminist foreign policy is expensive and time-consuming, and the results are not obvious.
However, many implementation experiences in the past decade have proven that the cost of feminist foreign policy may not be high, and countries such as Germany and Canada are also implementing this policy. Sweden's abandonment of a "feminist foreign policy" seems to be a symbolic move, but in practice it will still be committed to achieving gender equality.
It is not yet clear which areas will be affected by aid budget cuts. What the new government's proposed "reform agenda will focus on the long term, transparency and efficiency" means in practice is yet to be made clear. In the coming months, the new government will need to consider how to strike a balance between "doing the right thing" and "doing things the right way." In 2023, Sweden will succeed Switzerland as co-chair of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC). For the new government, this is an important opportunity to demonstrate Sweden's international leadership in effective aid spending and development effectiveness.
Sweden has long been regarded by some as a model country for development cooperation and is a strong advocate of development effectiveness, poverty reduction and sustainable development. With the introduction and implementation of new government policies, it will take time to answer the question to what extent Sweden will deviate from the practices of previous governments in the field of development cooperation in the future. It is hoped that Sweden will support poor people in obtaining better opportunities through deeper partnerships and continue to strengthen its advocacy for global development cooperation.
The pictures in this article come from the Internet
References
https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/2022/11/08/sweden-cuts-international-aid-budget-but-raises-overall-spending/https://donortracker.org/country/swedenhttps://cgdev.org/blog/end-aid-superpower-what-make-swedens-new-development-policyhttps://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/9f83244b-en/1/2/1/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/9f83244b-en&_csp_=1631568e088e7284b7d5562d1f35cb52&itemIGO=oecd&itemContentType=bookhttps://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/priorities-priorites/policy-politique.aspx?lang=eng
Past review
- Global Development Initiative: Dimensions You Need to Think about
- Evaluating German Development Cooperation: What's the OECD Development Assistance Committee's Take?
- What are the five major impacts of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on international development?
- New SDR Holds Promise to Alleviate Debt Risks in Developing Countries
- COVID-19 Likely to Reshape the Multilateral Governance System
- Recapping International Development in 2021
