Official Development Assistance to Sub-Sahara Africa; Preference and Sector Development Skewness Prior and during COVID-19 Pandemic

This paper evaluates Sub-Sahara African countries (SSA) preference of Official Development Assistance (ODA) from Western Countries and China prior and during the COVID -19 pandemic. Employing time series analysis, the paper shows increased preference of China’s ODA as opposed to Western countries’ ODA prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The trend changed during the 2020 pandemic as countries received aid regardless of underlying conditions due to economic distress experienced by SSA countries. International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank that represent the Western countries accounted for 60% and 30 % of social - economic aid disbursed to SSA countries as opposed to 12% disbursed by China. The paper further depicts sector preference as Western countries’ ODA was skewed towards the social - economic sectors with China’s ODA skewed towards the construction sector. The paper concludes by advocating for a hybrid of Western and China ODA to foster balanced economic growth in SSA countries.