The Washington Post quotes CGD research fellow David Roodman on the importance of foreign aid during financial crises.
From the article:
"If history is any guide, poor nations could be hit hard as wealthy countries cope with financial bailouts and potential downturns. Stung by a stock market and real estate crash, Japan slashed aid by some 44 percent between 1990 and 1996. Although Tokyo ramped up assistance in subsequent years, it still is spending less on foreign aid now than it did in 1990, according to David Roodman, a researcher at the Washington-based Center for Global Development.
After a financial crisis struck a number of Nordic countries in 1991, Norway slashed foreign aid by 10 percent and Sweden by 17 percent. Finland, which underwent a harsher economic contraction than its neighbors, cut foreign aid about 62 percent.
"I would not be surprised to see global aid flows fall by a quarter or a third," Roodman said."