2023-04-19 12:00:00
The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo admitted, in its 2022 budget execution report, that foreign donations fell by 31%, going from 2,940.85 million córdobas, in 2021, to 2,028.7 million córdobas last year.
Donations in 2022 were weighed down, mainly, by the unilateral rupture of diplomatic relations with Taiwan, in December 2021, and tensions with the European Union (EU). Last year’s amount is the lowest amount Nicaragua has received since 2018, when a decline in external cooperation began.
83% of last year’s amount was allocated to health, education and social protection, and 11% to the sectors “agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and economic, commercial and labor affairs in general”. , says the MHCP.
The budget execution report, recently published by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (MHCP), details that the Government of Taiwan delivered 296.4 million córdobas in 2022, which represents a drop of 76.9% compared to 2021, when donations from the island reached 1287.4 million.
The Taiwanese donations of 2022 are part of some “remaining funds” that were left after the surprise break of the Ortega government with Taiwan. The money was earmarked for school food safety and nutrition programs, pandemic care, and for the construction of the polyclinic and the pediatric area of the Carlos Roberto Huembes Hospital of the National Police.
Donations from the EU were 244.5 million in 2022, which is equivalent to a decrease of more than 56%, compared to 2021, when they exceeded 550 million córdobas.
Most of the 2022 funds were used for school improvements. Among them, the improvements made to the Padre Rafael María Fabretto Institute in San José de Cusmapa stand out, which was handed over to the Ministry of Education to install a technology center, after confiscating it from the Fabretto Foundation, which was stripped of its legal status in February of 2022.
Donations decreased in year of tensions
The reduction in cooperation also coincides with the year in which there were more closures of national and international NGOs. The Ministry of the Interior (Migob) closed 3,107 NGOs in 2022 alone, and of these 343 were foreigners, mainly from the United States and Europe.
Likewise, there was a break in relations with the Netherlands, who was the second largest bilateral cooperator in the private sector, in the last five years, and tensions with European countries that have spoken out about the human rights violations committed by the dictatorship.
In September 2022, the EU ambassador, Bettina Muscheidt, was expelled from Nicaragua after being declared non grata for alleged “interference and disrespect for national sovereignty.” Action that was repeated this Tuesday, April 18, 2023, when the dictatorship suspended the pleat that it had granted to the ambassador, Fernando Ponz Cantó, who would replace the diplomat.
Taiwan and the EU are the bilateral organizations that have delivered the most donations to Nicaragua. Between 2018 and 2022, the island delivered 2,522.8 million córdobas; meanwhile, the EU allocated 1667.1 million.
The US and Spain also reduced donations
External donations from the United States decreased by 94% in 2022. The amount received was barely 2.3 million córdobas, being the largest reduction registered since 2019, when 80.1 million were delivered.
These two million córdobas were allocated to food health and nutrition programs in primary and preschool schools.
From Spain, according to the MHCP, in 2022 739,600 córdobas were received, when a year ago they donated 17.3 million. This amount was destined for the replacement of the special education school Melania Lacayo Aguirre, located in Masaya.
The MHCP admits in its report that the disbursements tied to programs and projects are 11% lower “than those observed in 2021, whose origin is mainly focused on the sources of the Inter-American Development Bank, KUWAIT and the Fund of the Organization of Exporting Countries of Petroleum for International Development – OPEC”.
The only ones who increased donations
The only organizations that increased donations are the World Bank, which donated 501 million córdobas, seven times more than the 63.2 million delivered in 2021. The increase was allocated to school infrastructure programs and covid-19 care.
The World Food Program (WFP) increased donations delivered by 11% in 2022. In total, 142.4 million córdobas were granted for food and nutritional security, to pay for insurance against catastrophe risk, among other programs.
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