Canada

For the first time in two mandates of the Liberal Government, the 1998/99 budget added new resources for Canadian ODA. This, in the words of the Minister of Finance, ‘is a signal that…the Government…will make progress towards the ODA target of 0.7% of the GNP’. While the new resources are real, the ‘signal’ at this point is a faint flicker. Canadian ODA for 1998/99 is still expected to fall to about Cdn $2.36 billion or 0.27% of GNP (from 0.31% in 1997/98). ¹