As major European Union donors such as Germany, France, and Denmark pull back on foreign aid, Spain is trying to buck the trend by setting an ambitious goal to spend 0.7% of gross national income on aid — a dramatic jump from the country’s current level of 0.24%.
But Antón Leis García, director of Spanish development agency AECID, admits that just getting to 0.4% or 0.5%, a target reached by many of the model countries they’ve been studying, would be a step in the right direction for Spain.
“In 2021, we had a budget when I took over of €360 million and last year, it was 708 million euros,” Leis said, noting that with its development financing arm, AECID manages a portfolio of about €1 billion. “It’s still small … we need to continue growing, but that’s a good testimony of the commitment to growth.”
About the author
Anna Gawel
Anna Gawel is the Managing Editor of Devex. She previously worked as the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat, the flagship publication of D.C.’s diplomatic community. She’s had hundreds of articles published on world affairs, U.S. foreign policy, politics, security, trade, travel and the arts on topics ranging from the impact of State Department budget cuts to Caribbean efforts to fight climate change. She was also a broadcast producer and digital editor at WTOP News and host of the Global 360 podcast. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.
