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Swiss development aid hits official record, aid agencies denounce ‘illusion’

Ukrainian flag outside Swiss asylum centre
A quarter of official development aid went on the internal costs of hosting refugees, notably from Ukraine. © Keystone / Michael Buholzer

Switzerland's official development aid (ODA) rose to a record 0.56% of national income last year, according to the government, but a quarter of this was spent on internal asylum-related costs. Aid agencies say Switzerland should stop ‘playing with figures’.  

ODA totalled CHF4.274 billion last year, or 0.56% of gross national income, compared with 0.51% a year earlier, says a government press releaseExternal link on Wednesday. This was due to the war in Ukraine. Excluding asylum costs, however, ODA was 0.4% of gross national income.

Alliance Sud, a coalition of Swiss NGOs, said the official ODA increase was an “illusion” and that in reality Switzerland’s ODA falls well short of the UN target of 0.7% of gross national income. The Alpine country must substantially increase its aid to Ukraine, but without undermining existing projects and programmes in developing countries, it said in a press releaseExternal link.

+ How the war in Ukraine fuels underfunding for other crises

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), only five countries have reached the 0.7% target: Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Germany and Denmark. Switzerland is in ninth place.

“In accordance with DAC [OECD Development Assistance Committee] reporting rules, Switzerland also declares as ODA the costs of receiving asylum seekers, temporarily admitted persons and refugees from developing countries during their first 12 months in Switzerland,” according to the Swiss government websiteExternal link.  


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