Synopsis During the 1990s, the official and private flows showed opposite trends; while the former tended to decline over the years but private capital flows showed significant growth. In view of instability of private capital flows, various emergency packages were designed. But the official development finance and bilateral and consistently lagged behind; at present it is just one third of agreed target of 1 p.c. of GNP of developed countries. Above trend was partly offset by increased share of growth in ODA; the focus of private flows has been on middle-income countries but low-income countries' share in private financing has been declining. But foreign direct investments are highly focused on China and in the middle-income countries financial volatility and contagion issues are most relevant. Hence there is a need for exceptional financing with focus on some emerging countries. The volatility of contagion showed by the private capital flows are a serious problem indeed; no less important are issues of marginalization of the poorest countries.