Aid

Aid remains an important source of foreign finance for many countries. The CDI takes account of both aid quantity through their share of national income given as ODA; and of aid quality through their scores in the Quality of Official Development Assistance – QuODA exercise. 

Germany’s aid performance

• Rank: 14

Strengths

• Large share of aid to well governed countries
• Membership in the International Aid Transparency Initiative

Weaknesses

• Small share of aid to poor countries
• Small net aid volume as a share of the economy

Trade

International trade has been a force for economic development for centuries. The CDI measures trade barriers in rich countries against imports from developing countries. It also penalizes costly importation processes and restrictions against purchasing services from foreigners.

Germany’s trade performance

• Rank: 8

Strengths

• As a member state of the European Union, Germany imposes low tariffs on agricultural products including wheat, dairy, some meats, textiles and apparel
• Few documents required for importation
• Low cost to import a shipping container
• Few limitations on the importation of services

• As a member state of the European Union Germany imposes high tariffs on rice, sugar, vegetables, fruits, nuts and beef
• High agricultural subsidies 

Finance

Rich-country investment in poorer countries can promote economic growth, help spread technologies, skills, and create jobs. Conversely, policies that permit secrecy can facilitate illicit activities and financial flows abroad. The CDI rewards policies that support healthy investment in developing countries and promote transparency in financial transactions at home as well as globally.

Germany’s finance performance

• Rank: 16

Strengths

• Political risk insurance agency provides wide coverage and screens potential projects for violations of human, labor and environmental rights
• Active participation and leadership in extractive industries transparency initiatives such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Kimberley Process on blood diamonds
• Provides assistance to companies looking for investment opportunities in developing countries

• Scores below average in the Financial Secrecy Index for having few regulations in place to prevent illicit financial transactions within its jurisdiction 

Migration

Allowing people to move from poor to rich countries provides unskilled immigrants with jobs, income and knowledge. It also increases the flow of money migrants send home and the transfer of skills when the migrants return. The CDI also rewards countries for enabling students from developing countries to study at their universities, and for sharing the burden of refugees and asylum seekers.

Germany’s migration performance

• Rank: 10

Strengths

• Large number of immigrants from developing countries entering Germany 

Environment

Rich countries use a disproportionate amount of scarce resources while poor countries are most vulnerable to global warming and ecological deterioration. The CDI measures the impact of policies on the global climate, fisheries, and biodiversity, all of which affect the lives of those far beyond one country’s borders. 

Germany’s environment performance

• Rank: 12

Strengths

• Low fossil fuel production
• Excellent compliance with mandatory reporting requirements under multilateral environmental agreements relating to biodiversity 

• Greenhouse gas emissions grew almost as fast as GDP over the last decade
• High greenhouse gas emissions rate per capita 

Security

Since security is a prerequisite for development, the CDI rewards contributions to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping operations and forcible humanitarian interventions, military protection of global sea lanes, and participation in international security treaties. It penalizes arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments.

Germany’s security performance

• Rank: 22

Strengths

• Participation in major international security treaties and regimes
• Contribution to the protection of sea lanes

• High level of arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments
• Low contributions to UN peacekeeping and humanitarian interventions over last decade 

Technology

Rich countries contribute to development through the creation and dissemination of new technologies. The CDI captures this by measuring government support for R&D and penalizing strong intellectual property rights regimes that limit the dissemination of new technologies to poor countries.

Germany’s technology performance

• Rank: 13

Strengths

• High government expenditure on R&D
• Provides patent exceptions for research purposes

• Low tax subsidy rate to businesses for R&D
• Allows patents on plant and animal varieties
• Pushes to extend intellectual property rights in bilateral trade treaties (“TRIPS Plus” measures) that restrict the flow of innovations to developing countries
• Imposes strict limitations on anti-circumvention technologies that can defeat encryption of copyrighted digital materials
• Offers patent-like proprietary rights to developers of data compilations, including those assembled from data in the public domain