Aid Budget 2010: Beyond the big numbers

When the 2010 budget came down this month, aid watchers were struck by the big numbers. First, the Conservatives kept their promise to increase aid by 8 percent for this year to a total of about $5 billion. Second, they pin their deficit reduction hopes largely on freezing the aid budget at that level for the next five years.

The former decisionwas welcome. The latter decision puts the most vulnerable people in the world on the Conservative chopping block.

Along with the budget came detailed estimates of spending for 2010, which reveal some significant shifts in foreign aid spending. Treasury Board's "government expense plan main estimates" gives broad summary totals of various categories of expenditure for each department, including the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

CIDA`s bilateral spending in "low-income" and "fragile & crisis-affected" countries will fall by just under $200 million, while spending in `middle-income` countries will rise by just under $43 million, on a budget (excluding support for multilateral institutions) that rose from $3 billion to $3.15 billion. Notable too is that both "low-income" and "fragile" took a hit ($135 million and $60 million respectively).

If we look at the percentage of total CIDA transfers (total spending minus administration), low-income & fragile combined went from 53% to 45%, while middle-income went up from 13% to 14%. Low-income alone went from 32% to 26%, and fragile/crisis went from 21% to 18% (numbers rounded).

The changes likely reflect the shift in focus from Africa to Latin America, but Treasury Board`s broad categories don't allow for drawing that conclusion.

Also, the amount budgeted for "Canadian engagement" nearly quadrupled from $80 million to nearly $300 million, going from 2.7% to 9.6%. Multilateral ("global engagement") held steady, increasing by only $25 million. And overhead ("internal services") held steady, dropping by $2 million.