Appendix: Analysis of the aid budget

Attached is a spreadsheet that for each aid budget analyses shows both appropriations per chapter item, a breakdown of the various items per category (weighting), and how the amounts are then distributed.

Notes to Method:

1. The analysis of different years' aid budget bases itself on different versions of budget for that year, ranging from the government's proposal (Prop. 1 S), actual accounting, proposal to RNB and adopted RNB. This is due only to practical reasons, namely that the analysis for different years has been done at different times, with the then most recent available figures. For some years, there is little difference between proposals for budget, RNB and final accounts, while for other years the differences are large (for example, 2022 when the war in Ukraine broke out, and both revenues and expenses changed significantly).
2. Essentially, the categorisation of budget items and aid funds (see 2.1 and attached spreadsheet) builds on the categorisation that Norad made on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs following the Sending Group's report (mission 29A-2023), with a detailed and time-consuming review of the appropriations per budget item. It is a simplified assumption to use the same categorization and allocation of funds for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 aid budgets that Norad did for 2023. Some budget items have changed content since then, which can affect the correct distribution of each item per category. Some records have also been discontinued or merged (e.g., chapter 153). This is not adjusted for unless specifically commented below, but amounts to relatively minor differences.
3. The support to Ukraine has grown significantly in the period analyzed, and especially the non-humanitarian part (about three-quarters of civilian Ukraine-support last couple of years). Because this is considered to be aimed at contributing to peace and security in Europe, not primarily helping people in crisis, the budget line “159.73 Ukraine and neighbouring countries” is divided into two; one with humanitarian support which is continued in category 2, and one with non-humanitarian support (primarily energy measures and budget support) which has become category 3.
4. Chapter 165's records on Norfund's Ukraine mandate (new in 2025, then under Chapter 162) are placed in Category 3 for a similar reason.
5. From 2026, chapter 153.72 Sustainable Solutions and Host Communities (assessed by Norad to be 50/50 distributed category 1a/1b in 2022-2023) has essentially moved to chapter 159.70 Middle East and North Africa, which was categorized by Norad as 100% 1a. Because of this, as well as changes in what specifically funds for Palestine are spent on after October 7, 2023, we are adjusting for 2026 the distribution to 75/25 category 1a/1b.
6. As a result of the changes here, primarily the change for Ukraine support (note b), our analysis gives a somewhat different breakdown by category in 2022 and 2023 than Norad's own analysis. Norad found that 68 and 72 percent went to category 1, respectively, while the analysis here comes to 65 and 61 percent. This is due to the fact that in 2023 Ukraine aid increased sharply and at the expense of other parts of the aid budget.

‍