According to provisional statistics on official development assistance (ODA) capital recently released by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Korea's ODA capital in 2023 is 3.13 billion USD, an increase of 320 million USD (11.4%) compared to 2022.
The South Korean government plans to expand its ODA budget in 2024 to the largest ever at about $4.54 billion, up 31.1 percent from 2023, to match its role and status as a global pillar despite the domestic trend of fiscal austerity.
In the future, with the plan to realize the common interests of the country through ODA support, the Korean Government is committed to continuing to expand the scale of ODA capital to actively meet the needs of international development cooperation including humanitarian assistance for conflict and disaster areas, and response to climate change.
According to a report by the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs on April 14, in 2023, Korea's ODA capital for bilateral aid was 2.3 billion USD, an increase of 3.4% compared to the previous year, including non-refundable aid (1.57 billion USD) and payable aid (730 million USD) and multilateral aid of 830 million USD.
Grant aid increased by 2.6% year-on-year due to increased support for social sectors such as education, health and public administration (up $0.8 billion) and increased humanitarian aid for overseas emergency relief and support for vulnerable people (up $0.2 billion).
Repayment assistance also increased by 5.1% year-on-year due to growing financing needs from recipient countries, such as climate change response and industrial development. Multilateral assistance ($830 million) was provided by the International Development Association (IDA - an international financial institution under the World Bank) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in low-income and vulnerable countries and support economic recovery in developing countries.
The Korean government has responded quickly and effectively to the global shortage of development finance through multilateral aid, and has actively expressed its desire to contribute to solving international issues as a global pillar country.
2023 also recorded total ODA capital from 31 DAC member countries of the OECD reaching 223.7 billion USD, an increase of 6.2% compared to 210.7 billion USD of the previous year.
This is due to increased investments and contributions to international organizations such as the WB and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Among the 31 DAC member countries, Korea ranks 14th in terms of the scale of support and the ratio of ODA capital to gross national income (GNI).
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