“A historic moment for international solidarity. » These words from Kenyan President William Ruto, spoken on Monday, April 29, in Nairobi, during the summit devoted to the replenishment of the International Development Association (IDA) fund, give the measure of the expectations of poor countries in terms of aid , while their economic situation continues to deteriorate. This fund, reserved for the 75 poorest countries on the planet, is the leading source of development aid in the world. In view of the round table planned for December to replenish the fund over a period of three years, Ajay Banga, the president of the World Bank, said he hoped for a fundraising of 100 billion dollars (93.7 billion euros ), compared to 93 billion in 2021.
In a report published in mid-April, the World Bank warned of the “great inversion” of the trajectory of the poorest countries. For the first time since the beginning of the century, the latter are in full decline, that is to say that the gap in their gross domestic product (GDP) with that of the richest countries has widened over the last five years. A third of them are poorer than in 2020 and have still not recovered from the Covid-19 crisis. Half are in a situation of over-indebtedness, with an increased debt burden, following rising interest rates around the world, forcing them to reduce their spending. “They face both domestic and external difficulties,” explains Ayhan Kose, deputy chief economist at the World Bank.
World trade, which was behind the takeoff of many Asian countries, is expected to experience growth in 2024 less than half of what it was before the pandemic. The Chinese slowdown is weighing on the price of raw materials, of which poor countries are exporters, without forgetting the consequences of global warming. Natural disasters cost them 1.3% of their GDP each year, a figure that has doubled in just ten years.
“The situation is worrying”
Despite this situation, the richest nations are cutting their development aid budgets. “The situation is worrying”, estimates Clemence Landers, researcher at the American think tank Center for Global Development. France announced, on February 22, a cut of 742 million euros in its public development assistance for 2024. This is the budget line which recorded the largest decrease (13%), out of a total of 10 billion euros in savings announced by the government.
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