Development Assistance for Water and Sanitation

When assessing the priority that donors attach to water and sanitation, it is necessary not only to look at what has happened to water and sanitation spending in volume terms, but also how the sector has fared within the wider context of the trend in global aid as a share of total ODA. This means looking first at the overall picture on aid flows. Following a gradual rise in real terms over the 1970s and 1980s to reach a high watermark of $62.4 billions in 1992, a sharp decline in overseas aid disbursements occurred over the following 5 years. By 1997, global aid had fallen back to $48.5 billions – in real terms (2003 prices) the fall in aid was from $68089 millions to $52451 millions, a decline of 22%.