The latest OECD report shows that Slovakia has fallen to last place in the chart of aid donors in the EU. It shares the bottom position with Poland, mainly because debt forgiveness is no longer counted as aid, while the volume of actual development aid has also fallen.
Blaming the current financial crisis, Slovakia has cut aid to poor countries by 18.6 percent, the SITA newswire wrote.
Last year Slovakia provided development aid amounting to €54 million, equivalent to 0.086 percent of GDP, while in 2008 the amount stood at €65.4 million, or 0.102 percent of GDP.
"Slovakia promised to increase its official development aid to 0.17 percent of GDP by 2010 and to 0.33 percent of GDP by 2015. These commitments have to be observed despite the economic crisis and should be observed in the state budget next year," the head of the European Commission’s Representation in the Slovak Republic, Andrea
Elscheková-Matisová, announced.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
