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International Partnerships
News announcement21 September 2021Directorate-General for International Partnerships

Budget support has played a major role in the EU’s global response to COVID-19

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Budget support is essential in times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the newly launched report called Budget Support – Trends and results 2021, shows. According to the report, budget support has played a major role in the EU’s global response to the pandemic, allowing it to react quickly, coordinate with partners and maintain a strong policy dialogue – even in times of lockdown. It has helped countries mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the poorest and most vulnerable people by implementing public health, social protection and fiscal measures.

Budget support is a means of delivering effective aid and generating fast, tangible and durable results that back the EU partners’ reform efforts and help achieve the sus­tainable development goals (SDGs). The report describes how the EU budget support helped 95 countries and territories, mainly, but not only, in responding to the pandemic in 2020. As a result, the last year’s disbursements neared €3 billion – almost double compared to previous years. This support fostered countries’ resilience, allowing them to focus on reforms in different sectors and pre­venting further economic and social setbacks.

The report presents the results achieved by the partner countries and 54 case studies of how the EU budget support contributes to the 17 SDGs. It also analyses the risks and mitigation measures associated with budget support, as well as it describes the financial and geographical distribution of this support.

As the world continues to face the crisis triggered by the pandemic, budget support is a central contributor to the global recovery which benefits people and the planet. This support will remain at the core of the new financial instrument NDICI – Global Europe. It contributes to the EU’s political priorities to build back better and greener, so that we can use the potential of digitalisation to construct inclusive societies, while promoting the EU values of human dignity and rights, equality, freedom and the rule of law.

Read the report HERE.

Find more information on budget support HERE.

Details

Publication date
21 September 2021
Author
Directorate-General for International Partnerships