Data is scarce, but allocations to sanitation appear far below the agreed 0.5% of GDP.
Published on: 18/04/2016
In May 2015, African leaders promised to spend 0.5% of their countries' Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on sanitation and hygiene by 2020. Ministers responsible for sanitation and hygiene signed up to this commitment as part of the Ngor Declaration adopted at the 4th African Conference on Sanitation and Hygiene (AfricaSan).
So are these countries keeping their promises? Actually, it is hard to know because few African countries provided data on how much was spent on sanitation. Limited data from 8 countries presented below shows that budget allocation to sanitation appears to be far below 0.5% of GDP. Newer data, however, from the TrackFin initiative, does indicate that these numbers might be higher. For instance, TrackFin estimated that water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) spending in Ghana was 1.3% of GDP.
Read more about African governments' investments in sanitation and how they can be increased in the latest policy brief of the Public Finance for WASH initiative.
Rognerud, I. & Fonseca, C., 2016. Government investment in sanitation : 2016 state of play. (Finance brief / Public Finance for WASH ; 9). London, UK: IRC and Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP). Download the full brief below under Resources.
