Australia's International Development Assistance Program 2013–14
1.1 Introduction
This statement provides details of the 2013–14 Aid Budget.
The statement is in six sections:
- Section 1 provides an introduction and broad overview and context of the Government's 2013–14 Aid Budget
- Section 2 details 2013–14 country and regional program allocations and provides indicative budget allocations for 2016–17, based on the Comprehensive Aid Policy Framework
- Section 3 details 2013–14 global program allocations, including support for multilateral and non-government organisations
- Section 4 outlines progress and results achieved against the five strategic goals of the aid program, and major programs to be funded in 2013–14
- Section 5 covers the official development assistance (ODA) eligible activities of Australian government departments other than AusAID
- Section 6 outlines measures that are enhancing the performance of the aid program.
1.2. An Effective Aid Program for Australia
Australia is improving the lives of millions of people in developing countries through our aid program. The Australian Government is committed to the most effective aid program possible so that we can get the best value for money and have the greatest impact on the ground.
As outlined in the Australian Government's aid policy An Effective Aid Program for Australia: Making a real difference–Delivering real results, the fundamental purpose of Australian aid is to help people overcome poverty. This serves Australia's national interests by promoting stability and prosperity both in our region and beyond.
Effective Aid details the five strategic goals that guide our aid program to achieve this purpose: Saving lives, Promoting opportunities for all, Sustainable economic development, Effective governance, and Humanitarian and disaster response.
These strategic goals align Australia's efforts with our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)–global goals agreed upon by almost 200 United Nations member countries, including Australia, in 2000. The MDGs include ambitious targets for the eradication of poverty, gender inequality, and the achievement of universal education, health and environmental sustainability by 2015.
Since 2000, much has been achieved. Around the world hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty. Some important targets have already been met. The MDG targets of reducing extreme poverty by half and halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water were both met five years ahead of the target date. In spite of this progress, serious challenges remain. One major challenge is the approximately 61 million children of primary school age who are out of school. Of these, around 20 million live in the Asia-Pacific region.
Released in May 2012, the Comprehensive Aid Policy Framework (CAPF) provides a roadmap for where and how Australian aid will be spent to 2015–16. It links our international commitment to the MDGs to specific results we are aiming to achieve and the measures being taken to improve aid delivery. It does this by providing an overview of why we provide aid, what we will focus our aid on, where we will provide aid, and how we will efficiently and effectively deliver our aid.
To further promote accountability in the aid program, each year the Government will publish an Annual Review of Aid Effectiveness (Review) to examine the performance of our aid program against the commitments made in the CAPF. The inaugural Review, released in January 2013 by Foreign Minister Carr, found that Australia is achieving strong results against each of its five strategic goals. For example, in 2011–12 Australia immunised more than 2 million children and provided more than one million children with financial and nutritional support so that they could attend school. These strong results demonstrate that we are making good progress and are on track to deliver the results to which we committed in the CAPF. It also affirmed the positive contribution Australia is making to assist developing countries to reach the MDGs.
Diagram 1: Framework for the Australian aid program
1.3. The international development assistance budget
The official development assistance (ODA) target is 0.37 per cent of gross national income (GNI) in 2013–14.(1) The Government will provide an estimated $5,666 million in total ODA in 2013–14, of which $4,944 million will be managed by AusAID and $801 million will be administered by other Australian government departments.
Australia remains committed to increasing its aid budget to 0.5 per cent of GNI. However, given substantial write-downs to Budget revenues, the Government will
defer this target by one year to 2017–18. To reach this target, the Government expects to increase Australian aid to around 0.39 per cent in 2014–15, 0.41 per cent in 2015–16 and 0.45 per cent in 2016–17.
| Notes | Actual ($m) 2011–12 |
Budget Estimate ($m) 2012–13 |
Estimated Outcome ($m) 2012–13 |
Budget Estimate ($m) 2013–14 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AusAID Country Programs | a |
2,966.6
|
3,142.2
|
2,905.5
|
3,221.0
|
| AusAID Global Programs | b |
1,175.6
|
1,284.2
|
1,154.8
|
1,348.3
|
| AusAID Departmental | c |
287.5
|
325.3
|
333.8
|
374.9
|
| ACIAR | d |
89.6
|
100.0
|
93.3
|
96.3
|
| Other Government Departments | e |
416.6
|
405.9
|
741.3
|
704.2
|
| Adjustments | f |
-110.7
|
-104.6
|
-80.2
|
-78.3
|
| Funds approved but not yet allocated |
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
|
| Total ODA | g |
4,825.2
|
5,153.0
|
5,148.6
|
5,666.4
|
| Real change over previous year outcome | h |
|
|
6.6%
|
7.8%
|
| ODA/GNI ratio | i |
0.34%
|
0.35%
|
0.35%
|
0.37%
|
In 2013–14, Australia will provide bilateral aid to more than 30 countries around the world. We will also help almost 120 other countries through regional and global programs.
Table 2 shows total Australian ODA from all agencies and programs attributable to partner countries and regions. This includes: (i) country program allocations; and (ii) global and Other Government Department (OGD) expenditure that can be attributed to countries and regions.
| Country/Regional Programs | Notes | Actual ($m)2011–12 |
Budget Estimate ($m)2012–13 |
Estimated Outcome ($m)2012–13 |
Budget Estimate ( $m)2013–14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Papua New Guinea |
493.5
|
491.7
|
500.7
|
507.2
|
|
| Solomon Islands |
235.0
|
239.4
|
196.5
|
187.9
|
|
| Vanuatu |
66.8
|
72.9
|
61.4
|
65.4
|
|
| Samoa |
40.7
|
45.5
|
43.5
|
45.8
|
|
| Fiji |
46.3
|
55.6
|
49.2
|
58.2
|
|
| Tonga |
32.9
|
33.8
|
31.1
|
32.2
|
|
| Nauru | a |
28.7
|
31.6
|
34.1
|
29.9
|
| Kiribati |
35.0
|
30.4
|
34.2
|
29.7
|
|
| Tuvalu |
12.1
|
11.1
|
13.0
|
13.0
|
|
| Cook Islands |
5.3
|
3.7
|
6.8
|
6.8
|
|
| Niue and Tokelau |
7.5
|
4.5
|
7.8
|
7.8
|
|
| North Pacific | b |
20.0
|
9.6
|
18.7
|
18.7
|
| Regional and Other Pacific | c |
121.2
|
141.0
|
106.9
|
123.3
|
| Pacific |
1,145.0
|
1,170.9
|
1,104.0
|
1,125.9
|
|
| Indonesia | d |
514.5
|
578.4
|
541.6
|
646.8
|
| Vietnam |
149.1
|
150.4
|
153.1
|
159.1
|
|
| Philippines |
132.8
|
128.7
|
136.9
|
141.0
|
|
| Timor-Leste |
104.6
|
127.1
|
119.5
|
125.7
|
|
| Cambodia |
94.0
|
94.7
|
84.0
|
97.2
|
|
| Myanmar |
55.9
|
63.8
|
64.2
|
82.8
|
|
| Laos |
50.6
|
54.9
|
55.9
|
62.4
|
|
| Mongolia |
13.3
|
15.6
|
14.6
|
16.5
|
|
| East Asia Regional | e |
158.0
|
107.8
|
111.5
|
100.0
|
| East Asia |
1,272.9
|
1,321.2
|
1,281.4
|
1,431.4
|
|
| Afghanistan |
198.4
|
201.7
|
182.8
|
180.4
|
|
| Pakistan |
95.3
|
96.4
|
85.7
|
87.9
|
|
| Bangladesh |
95.1
|
100.5
|
97.3
|
111.4
|
|
| Sri Lanka |
50.5
|
47.1
|
42.6
|
45.5
|
|
| Nepal |
33.9
|
34.8
|
33.5
|
38.0
|
|
| Bhutan |
12.8
|
11.4
|
14.0
|
14.2
|
|
| Maldives |
7.9
|
7.1
|
10.0
|
9.3
|
|
| South and West Asia Regional | f |
49.7
|
26.2
|
27.4
|
26.0
|
| South and West Asia |
543.7
|
525.3
|
493.3
|
512.7
|
|
| Iraq |
34.6
|
22.3
|
26.9
|
15.9
|
|
| Palestinian Territories |
48.4
|
56.7
|
55.2
|
60.6
|
|
| Middle East and North Africa |
49.8
|
31.2
|
59.6
|
30.9
|
|
| Sub-Saharan Africa |
443.8
|
354.8
|
385.6
|
355.1
|
|
| Africa and the Middle East |
576.6
|
465.0
|
527.3
|
462.6
|
|
| Latin America |
36.7
|
28.0
|
32.5
|
24.8
|
|
| Caribbean |
17.2
|
19.7
|
14.3
|
13.3
|
|
| Latin America and the Caribbean |
53.8
|
47.7
|
46.8
|
38.1
|
|
| Core contributions to multilateral organisations and other ODA not attributed to particular countries or regions | g |
1,343.8
|
1,727.5
|
1,776.0
|
2,173.9
|
| Adjustments | h |
-110.7
|
-104.6
|
-80.2
|
-78.3
|
| Funds approved but not yet allocated |
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
|
| Total Estimated ODA | i |
4,825.2
|
5,153.0
|
5,148.6
|
5,666.4
|
Our top five bilateral aid recipients in 2013–14 are all from the Asia–Pacific region to which 86 per cent of the country specific aid is provided. Further details are provided in Section 2.
On current projections, in 2013–14, spending on:
- Saving lives through health and water and sanitation, will account for over 19 per cent of total ODA
- Promoting opportunities for all, including education, gender and disability, will account for 22 per cent of total ODA
- Sustainable economic development, including food security, economic development, climate change and the environment, will account for 19 per cent of total ODA
- Humanitarian and disaster response will account for 17 per cent of total ODA
- Effective governance will account for 16 per cent of total ODA
- General development support will account for 7 per cent of total ODA.
See Diagram 2 below. Further details are also outlined in Section 4.
Diagram 2: Estimated ODA by strategic goal in 2013–14
Most (87 per cent) of Australia's ODA is provided through AusAID. This is made up of: (i) administered funding for country and global programs; and (ii) departmental funding for AusAID's operating costs in managing the aid program. The remainder of ODA is provided by other government departments, mainly the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Australian Federal Police and Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.