Finland Times

 

File Photo AFP-Lehtikuva.

Finland's development cooperation disbursements increased by EUR 150 million in 2014.  

 

The country used a total of EUR 1.23 billion to development cooperation in the previous year that represented 0.6 per cent of its gross national income (GNI), said a press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued on Wednesday.

 

The figure also covers expenses arising from the reception of refugees, Finland's share of the EU budget, and other expenditure in different administrative areas collated in statistics under development cooperation.

 

The appropriations approved in the budget remained on the same level as in the previous year.

 

The amount of available resources increased on account of, among other things, the growth of income acquired from emissions trading transactions and, thanks to the raising of the efficiency of public services, more efficient use of appropriations carried over from the previous years.

 

The increased resources were channelled above all to humanitarian crises and improvement of the position of girls and women, said the release.

 

Finland's humanitarian aid in 2014 reached a record amount of nearly EUR 122 million. The share of the Ebola pandemic of the disbursements rose to a total of EUR 17 million. Also the support to international organizations, fragile states and Finnfund increased.

 

In 2014, Finland directed its assistance especially to the promotion of equality and the rights of girls and women through the UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund UNFPA.

 

The main recipient of Finland's development cooperation UNFPA was directed nearly EUR 51 million of core funding and funding for country-specific projects, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

In 2014, the Government channelled a total of EUR 69 million acquired from emissions trading transactions to development cooperation and international financing related to climate change.

 

The biggest recipients of Finland's development cooperation appropriations in 2014 were Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Afghanistan, Nepal, Zambia, Mozambique and Somalia.