Italian G8 commitments on International development

What happened to the Italian G8 commitments on International development? The 2010 G8 accountability report is a good step forward, as it lists all actions delivered by the G8 members, as these are reported by the Governments themselves. This mechanism lacks any independent validation but, at least, it provides a single registry to compare G8 performances.

According to the document, Italy ranks at the bottom in almost each G8 commitments. As for official development assistance and GDP ratio, the Italian 0.16% is the lowest level, among the G8. In the document, Italy explains that such minimal level is also due to the economic crisis but it reaffirms its commitment to reach 0.7% by 2015 and to increase ODA levels when the general budget increases. Unfortunately, between 2008 and 2009, the Italian budget increased by 3,4% but ODA levels shrank by more than 30%.

As for each thematic commitments, Italy is the only G8 member not disbursing to the Global Fund in 2009, to halve its contribution to STOP TB initiative, and to rank last in contributing to the Polio eradication initiative. Last year, the L’Aquila Summit launched an emergency initiative to respond to the global food crisis. Out of 6 billion dollar extraordinary funds, Italy just pledged 180 million dollar, half the contribution of Australia and almost as much as the Netherlands.