A raging debate about new ODA rules for reporting private sector aid

In their latest opinion article, the Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Carsten Staur and Chair of the DAC Working Party on Development Finance Statistics Katrine Heggedal push back after strong criticism of the new ODA rules from Simon Scott, a former head of the Statistics on Development Finance Division of the OECD.   

Scott argued that the new reporting rules cannot survive for long because they will allow development finance institutions to score ODA for commercially viable investments and do not measure a fiscal effort. He described the new rules as “nonsense”. Staur and Heggedal respond: “Scott raises important questions about ODA as an objective for aid performance, but he goes off track when he criticizes the new directives.” Read their full response here.

The debate was kicked off by an opinion article in which Staur and Heggedal presented the new rules on aid reporting, stating that they will open the way for increased engagement with the private sector. 

In this opinion article, civil society organisations warned that the new reporting rules are moving donors towards a more investment-based definition of ODA and climate finance.

If you have comments about the new ODA rules, take part in the debate on LinkedIn.