(Ecofin Agency) - In 2016, official development assistance for Africa decreased according to data released on April 11 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Public bilateral aid provided by OECD’s development assistance committee (DAC) stood at $27 billion last year, of which 24 billion for sub-Saharan Africa. This represents a 0.5% and 0.7% decrease for Africa and sub-Saharan Africa respectively.

Global official development assistance provided by industrialized nations however rose by 8.9% in 2016 to $142.6 billion, due to costs associated with refugee hosting which recorded a significant increase, for the second consecutive year. Thus, financial assistance to refugees soared 27.5% from $12.1bn to 15.4 billion. Even excluding this category, ODA still rose 7.1% over the period under review.

Bilateral aid for least developed nations for its part was $24 billion in 2016, down 3.9% compared to 2015, OECD reveals.