Chapter 1 Japan's Official Development Assistance in Terms of Disbursement

In 2010, Japan's net ODA disbursements accounted for $11,020.98 million as ranked fifth in the world, and Japan’s gross ODA disbursement is $18,828.18 million as ranked second in the world.

Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (a nutritionist and a community development officer) propose kongxincai (a type of leafy vegetable) to people in Senegal (Photo: Erina Hirobe)

Japan's net bilateral ODA disbursements in 2010 totaled approximately $7,336.97 million (¥643.9 billion). Contributions to international organizations amounted to approximately $3,684.00 million (¥323.3 billion). These figures make for a 16.4% increase from the previous year in overall ODA disbursements, reaching approximately $11,020.98 million (¥967.2 billion).(Note 1) Disbursements of bilateral ODA that are not calculated in repayment amounts for government loans, etc., totaled approximately $18,828.18 million (¥1,652.4 billion), a 14.5% increase over the previous year.(Note 2)

<Disbursement Analysis>

Japan's 2010 net disbursements of ODA increased approximately 16.4% over the previous year. Japan remained at its 2009 ranking of fifth place among OECD-DAC (Note 3) member countries, behind the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. In gross disbursements, Japan was in second place, as in the previous year.

A breakdown of 2010 net disbursements shows that bilateral ODA accounted for roughly 66.6% of overall disbursements, while ODA through international organizations accounted for about 33.4%. Bilateral ODA, which is implemented in consultation with developing countries, is expected to strengthen Japan’s relationship with recipient countries. On the other hand, ODA provided through international organizations takes advantage of the specialized knowledge and political neutrality of those organizations to enable support of countries and regions that would otherwise be difficult to reach with bilateral aid. Japan flexibly uses bilateral aid and aid through international organizations, while also coordinating their use and striving to ensure that the manner of assistance is appropriate.

A breakdown of net bilateral ODA by type indicates that disbursements calculated as grant aid totaled approximately $3,463.74 million (¥304.0 billion), accounting for approximately 31.4% of overall ODA disbursements. Of this amount, grant aid through international organizations totaled approximately $1,269.02 million (¥111.4 billion), or approximately 11.5% of the whole. In addition, technical cooperation totaled approximately $3,478.48 million (¥305.3 billion), or approximately 31.6% of the whole. Government loans totaled about $394.75 million (¥34.6 billion).(Note 4)

Japan's bilateral ODA by region is as follows.

The figures in parentheses are gross sisbursements.

•Asia: $2,528.32 million ($8,105.91 million)

•Middle East and North Africa: $1,591.76 million ($2,339.90 million)

•Sub-Saharan Africa: $1,732.75 million ($1,835.29 million)

•Latin America and the Caribbean: $-343.55 million ($1,005.55 million)

* The negative figure indicates that loan repayments, etc., exceeded the disbursed amount.

•Oceania: $176.29 million ($196.87 million)

•Europe: $180.51 million ($232.45 million)

•Assistance covering multiple regions: $1,561.95 million ($1,561.95 million)

Notes:

(1) Excluding disbursements to Eastern European countries and countries that are no longer targets, as well as a portion of contributions to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Numbers have been rounded, so totals shown may not match in some cases.

(2) The relation of gross and net disbursements is as follows: net disbursements = gross disbursements - amount recovered (repayment amounts of government loans from recipient countries to donor countries)

(3) OECD-DAC: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development-Development Assistance Committee

(4) Conversion rate: 2010 US$1 = ¥87.7606, 2009 US$1 = ¥93.4000 (The exchange rate by the OECD-DAC.)

Main Text | Statictics and Reference Materials | Columns | Boxed Articles