This Year’s ODA Budget Hits a Record 6.3 Trillion Won...Significant Expansion of Overseas Emergency Relief

ODA Increased by About KRW 1.5 Trillion Compared to Last Year
"Global Hub Nation Responsibility Despite Difficult Finances"
USD 400 Million Support for Ukraine Reconstruction and Recovery

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is speaking about the medical inconveniences caused by the collective actions of resident doctors at the Cabinet meeting held on the 27th at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

This year, the official development assistance (ODA) budget has been confirmed at a record high of 6.2629 trillion KRW, an increase of about 1.5 trillion KRW compared to the previous year. Under the policy of fulfilling responsibilities as a global pivotal country, the budget for overseas emergency relief has more than doubled in one year, significantly expanding humanitarian contributions. This means that the government has achieved ahead of schedule its international commitment made at the G20 Osaka Summit in June 2019 to more than double the total ODA scale by 2030 compared to 2019 (3.2 trillion KRW).

On the morning of the 29th, the government held the International Development Cooperation Committee at the Government Seoul Office, chaired by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, and deliberated and approved the "2024 Comprehensive Implementation Plan for International Development Cooperation," which includes these details.

Record High ODA Scale... Doubled in 5 Years

In his opening remarks, Prime Minister Han said, "Despite difficult fiscal conditions, the government has confirmed this year's ODA scale at a record high of about 6.3 trillion KRW to fulfill the role and responsibility of a global pivotal country."

This year, a total of 46 institutions will carry out 1,976 ODA projects. Compared to last year, the number of participating institutions increased by one with the addition of the National Tax Service, and the number of projects increased by 136 (7.4%). The scale of bilateral projects is 5.13 trillion KRW, multilateral projects 1.13 trillion KRW, and the grant-to-loan ratio is 40 to 60.

By region, Asia accounts for 31.8%, Africa 18.3%, the Middle East and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) 9.2%, and Latin America 7.7%. The support proportion for Asia and Africa slightly decreased, while it increased for the Middle East, CIS, and Latin America. The main support sectors are humanitarian aid (17.5%), transportation (15.1%), and health (9.0%), with humanitarian aid increasing significantly by 6.5% compared to last year.

In particular, the overseas emergency relief budget increased about 2.5 times to 734.6 billion KRW from 295.1 billion KRW last year, and food aid also doubled from 50,000 tons to 100,000 tons. This reflects the intention to contribute to sustainable recovery amid the recent global rise in conflicts, disasters, and calamities.

The support scale for reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine, which is at war with Russia, has been confirmed at 400 million USD. This includes 200 million USD for humanitarian aid, 100 million USD for international financial institutions, and 100 million USD for the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) loan projects.

In the early hours of the 23rd (local time), firefighters are conducting extinguishing operations after a building in Odesa, a southern port city of Ukraine, was attacked by Russian drones. Photo by the Odesa branch of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Enhancing Korea's ODA Influence... Discovering Signature Projects

Considering criticism that the large number of projects relative to the ODA budget reduces impact, the government plans to actively promote large-scale infrastructure projects and public-private partnership package projects. To this end, 215.1 billion KRW will be invested in building ITS on Indian highways, and 320.3 billion KRW in constructing a general hospital in Bangladesh. Contributions to international organizations will also increase, establishing cooperative systems with major donor countries such as the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom, and seeking a contribution ranking commensurate with Korea's economic scale.

Additionally, to prevent the significantly increased budget this year from being poorly executed, the execution status will be checked quarterly through the "ODA Integrated Information Portal System." To enhance ODA outcomes, a mid- to long-term innovation roadmap will be developed by June, and the role of overseas diplomatic missions in project discovery and monitoring will be strengthened. The government plans to focus on areas where Korea has comparative advantages to discover signature projects and increase Korea's international ODA influence.

On this day, the government also deliberated and approved the ASEAN Development Cooperation Strategy. This is the second regional strategy following the Africa Development Cooperation Strategy approved early last year, aimed at specifying Korea's Indo-Pacific strategy's support direction toward ASEAN. Given the significant development level gaps among ASEAN countries, tailored cooperation plans will be pursued with middle-income countries focusing on "strengthening innovation capabilities" and low-income countries on "supporting inclusive development."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.