Less funding for development aid projects
Switzerland contributed SFr2.02 billion ($1.96 billion) to fund overseas development aid projects last year, a drop of three per cent compared with 2006.
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) said on Thursday that the money went to support the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and to increase the number of people with access to safe drinking water.
The 2007 funding represented 0.37 per cent of gross national income (GNI).
The figures come from the 2007 report on Switzerland's international cooperation and a separate document on aid effectiveness in the water sector. They were jointly published by the SDC and Swiss Secretariat for Economic Cooperation (Seco).
Earlier this year, the government said Switzerland's development strategy must be made more effective. The SDC will drop five states – Ecuador, Peru, Bhutan, Pakistan and India – from the list of countries targeted for Swiss funding for 2009-2012 period.
More than 20 countries in Africa, Asia and Central America remain on the list.
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