ROK’s ODA Increased by US$90 Million to US$1.85 Billion in 2014 from 2013 View|Press Releases | Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea

ROK’s ODA Increased by US$90 Million to US$1.85 Billion in 2014 from 2013

Date: 2015-04-09
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[Summary of the OECD Report]

□ On April 8, Paris time, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) announced its tentative official development assistance (ODA) statistics for the year 2014 of the member states of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC). According to the statistics, the Republic of Korea recorded an ODA increase of 5.4%, or 90 million US dollars, to 1.85 billion US dollars in 2014 from the 1.76 billion in the year 2013.

* According to the announcement by the OECD/DAC, the increase percentage was 0.8%, with changes in foreign exchange rate and the inflation factored out.

° The ROK ranked 16th among the 28 member states of the DAC in terms of the amount of the contribution, maintaining the same ranking as the year before.

□ The ROK’s ODA/GNI (gross national income) ratio, the indicator of the level of aid relative to the size of the economy, remained at 0.13% from the previous year.

* The country’s ODA/GNI ratio was 0.12% in 2011, 0.14% in 2012, 0.13% in 2013 and 0.13% in 2014.

° The ROK recorded an annual average increase of 17.8% from 2009 till 2014, the largest among the DAC member states, whose average was 2.3% during the same period.

° The increase is the outcome of the ROK’s efforts to maintain its streak of the ODA expansion, while many other DAC member states -- 15 out of the 28 -- reduced their contributions amid the global economic downturn.

* The average increase rate of the 28 DAC member states stood at 0.1%.

[Analysis of the ROK’s ODA in 2014]

□ The outcome of an analysis of the ROK’s ODA statistics for 2014 is as follows.

° The ROK’s ODA of 1.85 billion US dollars (in net expenditures) in 2014 consisted of bilateral assistance of 1.39 billion US dollars in goods and funds provided directly to recipient countries as well as multilateral assistance of 460 million US dollars offered indirectly through international organizations.

(net expenditures, million US dollars)


	2013	2014	Increase rate(%)	Ratio(%)
ODA(A+B)	1,755	1,851	5.4	100.0
Bilateral ODA(A)	1,310	1,391	6.3	75.2
Grants (KOICA,etc)	809	879	8.7	(62.7)
Loans (EDCF)	501	512	2.3	(36.8)
Multilateral ODA(B)	445	459	3.0	24.8
ODA/GNI (%)	0.13	0.13	-	-

* KOICA: Korea International Cooperation Agency
* EDCF: Economic Development Cooperation Fund

° Of the bilateral assistance, the grants stood at 900 million US dollars, up 8.7% from the year before, with loans growing by 2.3% to 500 million dollars. The ratio of grants to loans in aid marked 63:37.

- By region, the ROK continued to offer the majority of its ODA to Asian countries whiles evenly increasing its contribution to Africa, Latin America and the Middle East and thereby diversifying recipient countries of its ODA.

* The ROK provided 650 million US dollars (47.0%) to Asia, 330 million (23.8%) to Africa, 110 million (7.8%) to Latin America and 70 million (5.4%) to the Middle East.

- Some 40%, or 540 million US dollars, of the ROK’s bilateral assistance was offered to least developed countries, out of which 310 million, up 25% from the year before, was provided to those in sub-Sahara Africa.

° For multilateral assistance, the ROK contributed 460 million US dollars, up 3.0% from the year before, out of which 310 million, a 6.7% increase from 2013, was contributed to the World Bank, regional development banks and other international financial institutions.

* The ROK contributed 190 million US dollars (42.1%) to the World Bank, 120 million (26.9%) to regional development banks and 110 million (23.9%) to the UN.

[Future Direction of the ROK Government’s ODA Policy]

□ Since its accession to the OECD/DAC in 2010, the ROK government, through interagency cooperation led by the Committee for International Development Co-operation, has supported developing countries’ efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development.

* The 25-member Committee is led by the Prime Minister and comprised of the top officials of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other relevant government agencies, as well as civilian experts.

° The government, having earmarked the largest-ever ODA of 2.3782 trillion won for 2015, will make efforts to enhance its international standing as a donor country and build partnership with the recipient countries of its ODA.

° In particular, in the year 2015, when the ROK is set to draw up its second ODA blueprint for the 2016-2020 period, the government will seek to increase its ODA volume and improve its aid effectiveness through close interagency cooperation.

* unofficial translation

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