An official with UN Development Program (UNDP) reported back in November 2008 that the global financial crisis that has gripped the entire world threatens to cut official development assistance (ODA) by up to a third.
As told to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Brett House, a senior economist with UNDP stated, "We are deeply concerned about the prospects for ODA. In past periods of market turmoil and recession, global ODA has on some occasions fallen up to 40 percent from established trends." ODA funds a significant portion of all UN development programs aimed at reaching the Millennium Development Goals.
During the 2008 Presidential campaign, now President-elect Barack Obama stated that he would double US foreign assistance from $25 billion to $50 billion anually. However, Vice President-elect Biden stated that the increase would likely be scaled back due to the economic crisis.
Source: ReliefWeb,
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
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