Published: Just now
The government will cut support to several UN agencies next year, and the aid agency Sida will have its grant for information and communication cut by 125 million.
Ukraine may become the country that receives the most Swedish aid.
– This is the starting point for our reform of the aid to make it more effective, says Minister for Aid and Trade Johan Forssell (M) to TT.
TT has seen the regulation letter that the government will soon send over to Sida, which handles a large part of Swedish aid. The regulation letter contains assignments and guidelines from the government to Sida for 2023, not least about how the grants are to be used.
Fewer conferences
Sida itself receives a sharp reduction in the amount that the authority can use for information and communication, from 155 to 20 million, a reduction of almost 90 percent.
– It follows our priority. We want to see more food packages and fewer conferences, says Johan Forssell.
According to him, the government is redistributing funds to be able to increase humanitarian aid and to be able to increase it to Ukraine. He states that humanitarian aid will increase by 400 million in scope compared to the beginning of 2022.
Ukraine will receive aid in the “billion class” and will likely end up at the top of countries that, calculated in kroner, receive the most from Sweden.
– It’s a change that happens very quickly, but it’s a natural change because we have a war in Europe.
Hijacks UN support
Sweden has long been one of the countries that provides the most in so-called core support to a number of UN bodies. Now it will change in several cases. The United Nations program against AIDS and HIV UNAIDS, the organization focusing on women UN Women, the development program UNDP, the refugee agency UNHCR and the UN aid organization for Palestinian refugees UNWRA are among those receiving reduced contributions.
– This is where we free up resources, says Johan Forssell.
UNAIDS gets the biggest reduction.
– It is an organization that has received a lot of criticism, even from Sweden, about how it works. Then it is ultimately a question of where resources do the most good, we can get better results by channeling the funds in a different way, says Forssell.
In addition to redirecting money from UN agencies to Ukraine and possibly to aid via the EU, the government’s review is also about aid and trade going hand in hand, according to Forssell.
– Aid can only fight poverty, if you want to build a path to prosperity, it is through trade, growth and a market economy.
Abandoning the one percent target
The aid budget will be, in kronor, at the same level in 2023 as it is this year. But the governing parties and the support party the Sweden Democrats have abandoned the goal that the equivalent of one percent of Sweden’s gross national income (GNI) should be distributed to aid. The 2022 level of around 56 billion will be there for the next four years, it will not be written up or down based on the GNI development.
The allocation for international aid accounts for roughly 47 billion of the 56.
– The long-term framework is set, it makes a big difference compared to before, says Forssell.
– What was the discussion about aid before has been the appropriations for next year, we can leave that discussion now. We can instead step in to make aid more efficient.