The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) reported on January 11 that Korea’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) for 2010 totaled US$1,174 million in net disbursement.

This amount translates into KRW 27730 per capita, an increase of KRW 5777 from the previous year.
*ODA per capita in 2009 (US$): US (96), Japan (79), France (202), Sweden (478), and Luxemburg (832)

In particular, bilateral assistance in the form of direct aid and supplies totaled US$910 million in 2010, up 55% from last year’s amount of US$581 million.

Multilateral development assistance conveyed through international financial institutions totaled US$273 million in 2010, an increase of 16.3% from US$234 million in 2009.

Regionally, Asia accounted for the biggest proportion of bilateral assistance (65.2%) followed by Africa (15.5%) and South America (7.2%).
* Regional breakdown: Asia (65.2%), Africa (15.5%), South America (7.2%), Europe (4.3%), Oceania (0.6%)

Vietnam received 10.6% of total bilateral assistance, being the largest beneficiary since last year, followed by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
* Vietnam (10.6%), Afghanistan (10.4%), Bangladesh (6.1%), Sri Lanka (4.8%), Mongolia (4.3%), Cambodia (4.1%), Uzbekistan (3.6%)

By sector, social infrastructure (education, public health, sanitation, water resources, etc. totaling US$960 million) and economic infrastructure (transportation, energy, IT, etc. totaling US$610 million) comprised 83.8% of bilateral ODA.

The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) announced* last December that “Korea’s ODA increased 26.4% in 2010, ranking 2nd among 23 countries in ODA growth, and recorded an ODA/GNI ratio of 0.12%, an increase of 0.02% from the previous year.”
* The DAC normally collects previous year statistics from each country in July and publishes its findings in December.

Adjusting for currency rate and inflation, top rankers in ODA growth were Portugal, Korea, the UK, Belgium, and Canada, successively, while countries recording the greatest decrease in ODA were Greece, Sweden, New Zealand, Spain, and Italy.

Korea’s ranking in ODA contributions inched up to 18th, while its ODA/GNI ratio ranking remained 27th.
* Total ODA contributions of DAC member countries recorded US$12.85 billion, up 6.3%. ODA/GNI average was 0.32%, an increase of 0.01%.

A representative of Korea Eximbank commented, “The ODA contributions posted are the results of faithful implementation of Korea’s pledge to increase assistance since joining the DAC. If the government’s goal of doubling ODA contributions by 2015 is achieved, we will most likely reach an ODA/GNI ratio of 0.25%.”

Korea Eximbank was appointed to serve as the ODA statistics reporting agency by the International Development Cooperation Committee of the Office of the Prime Minister.