Support Scale Ranks 14th Among 31 Member Countries
ODA Support Amount Expected to Increase Significantly This Year
Last year, South Korea's official development assistance (ODA) performance was recorded at $3.13 billion, an increase of $320 million compared to the previous year. Among the 31 member countries of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), South Korea ranked 14th in terms of support scale.
The government announced on the 14th that the OECD's DAC reported South Korea's provisional ODA statistics for last year as $3.13 billion, an increase of $320 million (11.4%) compared to the previous year.
Last year's ODA support performance increased steadily in both bilateral aid ($2.3 billion) and multilateral aid ($830 million), amid a slowdown in the won-dollar exchange rate fluctuations. In particular, contributions and subscriptions to international financial institutions such as the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased significantly.
In the case of bilateral aid, both grant aid ($1.57 billion) and concessional loans ($730 million) increased, rising 3.4% over one year.
Grant aid increased by 2.6% compared to the previous year due to increased support in social sectors such as education, health, and public administration, as well as humanitarian aid for overseas emergency relief and vulnerable groups.
Concessional loans also increased by 5.1% compared to the previous year, as program loan support expanded due to increased fiscal demand from recipient countries for climate change response and industrial development.
Multilateral aid surged by 41.9% compared to the previous year, as contributions and subscriptions to major international financial institutions increased to support COVID-19 response in low-income and vulnerable countries and economic recovery in developing countries.
Among the 31 member countries, South Korea ranked 14th in terms of support scale, moving up two places in one year. The ratio of official development assistance to gross national income (ODA/GNI), which indicates the scale of ODA support relative to economic size, was 0.18%, an increase of 0.01 percentage points over one year.
The total ODA support scale of the 31 member countries was $223.7 billion, a 6.2% increase compared to the previous year. This was influenced by increased support for Ukraine, which is at war with Russia, ongoing humanitarian aid, and increased contributions and subscriptions to international organizations.
The government explained, "Despite the fiscal austerity stance, we have expanded this year's ODA budget by the largest margin ever (31.1%) to fulfill our role as a global pivotal country," and added, "The scale of this year's ODA performance is also expected to increase significantly."
The ODA budget has been on the rise: 3.94 trillion won in 2022, 4.78 trillion won last year, and 6.26 trillion won this year.
The government stated, "We plan to continue expanding the scale of ODA in the future to actively respond to international development cooperation demands such as humanitarian aid for conflict and disaster areas and climate change response, and to realize mutual national interests through strategic ODA promotion linked with foreign policy."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
