Latvia
The objective of Latvia’s development co-operation policy is to contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, particularly in its priority partner countries. Latvia’s development and foreign policies are closely aligned. With a clear focus on the European Union’s (EU) Eastern Partnership and Central Asia, Latvia’s development co-operation aims to promote sustainable growth and stability. Latvia’s total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 99.2 million, preliminary data) increased in 2022, representing 0.25% of gross national income (GNI). This was mainly due to an increase in both its bilateral (including in-donor refugee costs) and multilateral ODA.
Find the methodological notes behind the profile here.
Latvia’s Cabinet of Ministers adopted the Development Cooperation Policy Guidelines for 2021-2027 in April 2021, which builds on the commitments and objectives of the 2016-2020 Policy Guidelines. The guidelines confirm Latvia’s intent to increase resources for development co-operation and humanitarian aid to reach 0.33% of GNI by 2030.
Latvia’s Development Cooperation Policy sets the implementation of Agenda 2030 as the overarching goal. Latvia particularly focuses on poverty eradication and promoting good governance, including the rule of law, sound financial management, anti-corruption and e-governance; sustainable economic growth, especially by strengthening the export capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises and in the agricultural sector; gender equality; quality education; and climate action.
In geographical terms, the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries (Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as support for Belarusian civil society) and Central Asian countries (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) retain their priority status, and other regions, especially African countries, have been included as a priority for the transfer of Latvia’s expertise on climate and digitalisation. Latvia also seeks to follow a whole-of-society approach in its development co-operation, including multidisciplinary and intersectoral co-operation and partnerships by emphasising the role of various stakeholders – the public administration, local governments, civil society, academic institutions, the private sector and experts – and their added value for development co-operation. Latvia pays particular attention to partnerships and co-ordination with other donor countries to further ensure the effectiveness of its support.
Latvia is an Adherent to the OECD Recommendation of the Council for Development Co-operation Actors on Managing the Risk of Corruption, the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development, the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Environmental Assessment of Development Assistance Projects and Programmes, and the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas. Learn more about DAC recommendations.
Latvia provided USD 99.2 million (preliminary data) of ODA in 2022 (USD 95 million in constant terms), representing 0.25% of GNI.1 This was an increase of 99.6% in real terms in volume and an increase in share of GNI from 2021, largely due to amplified costs of refugees in the donor country. ODA volume has consistently increased over the past ten years. Latvia has undertaken to continue gradually increasing ODA in line with its European-level commitment of 0.33% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. Total ODA on a grant-equivalent basis has the same value as net ODA under the cash-flow methodology used in the past, as Latvia provides only grants.2
Latvia provided most of its ODA multilaterally in 2021. Gross bilateral ODA was 15.3% of total ODA. Twenty-two per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions). Latvia allocated 84.7% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.
In 2022, Latvia provided USD 9.7 million of gross bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s war of aggression, of which USD 3.3 million was humanitarian assistance (preliminary data).
In 2022, Latvia provided USD 9.2 million in ODA for the COVID-19 response. Regarding COVID-19 vaccines, donations of excess doses to developing countries accounted for USD 9.1 million of ODA.
In 2021, Latvia provided USD 42 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, an increase of 5.8% in real terms from 2020. Of this, USD 40.3 million was core multilateral ODA, while non-core contributions were earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. Project-type funding earmarked for a specific theme and/or country accounted for 67% of Latvia’s non-core contributions and 33% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).
Almost all Latvia’s total contributions to multilateral organisations in 2021 were allocated to EU Institutions, World Bank, and UN entities (in descending order).
The UN system received 4.6% of Latvia’s multilateral contributions, mainly in the form of core contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 1.9 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Latvia’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were the UN Secretariat (USD 0.7 million), FAO (USD 0.2 million) and WHO (USD 0.2 million).
See the section on Geographic and sectoral focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system. Learn more about multilateral development finance.
In 2021, Latvia’s bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 7.3 million of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 31.8% in real terms from 2020. In 2021, Latvia focused most of its bilateral ODA on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for good health and well-being (SDG 3), reduced inequalities (SDG 10), peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16) and partnerships for the goals (SDG 17).
In 2021, country programmable aid was 61% of Latvia’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to a non-DAC country average of 46.4%. In-donor refugee costs were USD 1.8 million in 2021, an increase of 61.7% in real terms over 2020, and represented 25% of Latvia’s gross bilateral ODA.
In 2021, Latvia mostly channelled bilateral ODA through the public sector, multilateral organisation, NGOs and universities, research institutes and think-tanks, primarily as earmarked funding. Technical co-operation made up 4.3% of gross ODA in 2021.
Civil society organisations
In 2021, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 0.6 million of gross bilateral ODA. Two per cent of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 5.9% was channelled through CSOs to implement projects initiated by the donor (earmarked funding). From 2020 to 2021, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 15.1% to 7.9%. Learn more about ODA allocations to and through CSOs, civil society engagement in development co-operation, and the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
In 2021, Latvia’s bilateral ODA was primarily focused on Europe. USD 2.0 million was allocated to Europe and USD 2.0 million to developing countries in Asia (excluding the Middle East), accounting respectively for 27.8% each of gross bilateral ODA. USD 0.7 million (9.7%) was allocated to Africa. Europe was also the main regional recipient of Latvia’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations.
In 2021, 58.3% of gross bilateral ODA went to Latvia’s top 10 recipients. Its top 10 recipients are mostly in Europe and Central Asia. The share of gross bilateral ODA that was not allocated by country was 34.2%, with 73.1% of unallocated bilateral ODA spent on refugees in the donor country.
In 2021, the least developed countries (LDCs) received 0.3% of Latvia’s gross bilateral ODA (USD 25 thousand). This is lower than the non-DAC country average of 13.7%. Latvia allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (34.3%) to lower middle-income countries in 2021, noting that 34.2% was unallocated by income group. Latvia allocated 9.6% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2021, equal to USD 0.7 million.
Fragile contexts
Support to fragile contexts reached USD 0.5 million in 2021, representing 7% of Latvia’s gross bilateral ODA. This is more than three times more than in 2020. A majority of 81% of Latvia’s ODA to fragile contexts in 2021 was provided for development, 12% for peace and 7% as humanitarian assistance.
Learn more about support to fragile contexts on the States of Fragility platform.
Sectors
In 2021, more than half of Latvia’s bilateral ODA was allocated to social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 61.6% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 4.5 million), with a strong focus on support to health (USD 2.3 million), government and civil society (USD 1.7 million) and education (USD 0.5 million). Bilateral humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 0.5 million (7.3% of bilateral ODA). In 2021, earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations mostly focused on support to government and civil society (USD 1.1 million) and humanitarian aid (USD 0.4 million).
Other sectors and cross-cutting themes
In 2020-21, Latvia committed 23.4% of its screened bilateral allocable aid USD 0.7 million to gender equality and women’s empowerment, as either a principal or significant objective, i.e. 23.4% of its screened bilateral allocable aid (compared with the 2020-21 non-DAC average of 24.1%). The share of screened bilateral allocable aid committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal objective was 4.2% in 2020-21, compared with the non-DAC average of 0.8%. Latvia screens the majority of activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (75.1% in 2020-21). Learn more about ODA focused on gender equality, the DAC Network on Gender Equality and the DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation in Development Co-operation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plays the central policy formulation and co-ordination role in an inclusive and co-ordinated manner. Planning is done in co-operation with the Consultative Council which includes representatives from the parliament (Saeima), line ministries, CSOs and social partners. The national Development Cooperation Agency of Latvia was officially set up on the basis of the Central Finance and Contracting Agency on 1 January 2022 to increase the capacity of Latvian development co-operation project implementers to effectively engage in development co-operation globally.
Latvia’s Development Cooperation Policy Guidelines for 2021-2027 define the goals, principles and directions of Latvia’s development co-operation. The Cabinet approves a development co-operation policy plan to implement these guidelines, which sets out detailed priorities and associated funding allocations. Most of the funding for bilateral development co-operation managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is channelled through grant project competitions. For example, in 2023, nearly 75% of the funding is channelled through competitions, with around 20% to strategic development co-operation projects that are directly included in the plan and the rest to support the capacity building of Latvian development co-operation project implementers and provide direct funding to non-governmental organisations for membership fees of international organisations and to raise public awareness.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia: https://www.mfa.gov.lv/en
National Development Cooperation Agency of Latvia - Central Finance and Contracting Agency: https://www.cfla.gov.lv/en/development-cooperation-agency-latvia
Member of the OECD since 2016. Not a member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee.
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable aid, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
Notes
← 1. DAC members adopted the grant-equivalent methodology starting from their reporting of 2019 data as a more accurate way to count the donor effort in development loans. See the methodological notes for further details.
← 2. Non-grants include sovereign loans, multilateral loans, equity investment and loans to the private sector.