Discussions on the relationships between official development assistance (ODA) and the interests of the donor country, mainly in supporting its exports, have been at the heart of the international debate on development work during the last twenty years.
We have scanty knowledge of the determinants and importance of the link between ODA and exports. This is a consequence of poor data and the absence of an appropriate framework of analysis.
The present study undertakes a broad examination of the Swedish experience during the period 1980-1992 of the connection between aid and exports.
Dr. Thomas Andersson and Håkan Hellström, from the Industrial Institute for Economic and Social Research, in Stockholm, have prepared this study. They suggest a methodology to analyze the net impacts of ODA on the size and composition of exports. Analyzing Swedish aid and exports between 1980 and 1992 they show a notable asymmetry in the geographical distribution of aid and exports. There is room for improvement in aid-trade relations, looking at implications for developing countries as well as for Sweden.
Andersson and Hellström suggest a number of adjustments in reporting and thinking on aid-trade relations and they advance some guidelines for practical measures.
The report has been commissioned by the Secretariat for Analysis of Swedish Development Assistance (SASDA). The opinions and conclusions of the authors of the report are their own.
