TY - JOUR
T1 - Estimating China’s foreign aid using new data
AU - Kitano, Naohiro
N1 - Funding Information:
In November 2014, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) released ‘Measures for the Administration of Foreign Aid (For Trial Implementation)’ (MOFCOM 2014).6 According to MOFCOM, this was the first comprehensive departmental regulation on the management of foreign assistance.7 In this document, the term ‘foreign aid’ refers to those activities which provide economic, technical, material, human resources, and administrative support to recipient countries, supported by the Chinese government’s ‘financial resources for foreign aid’. The forms of foreign aid outlined in this document are similar to those in the 2011 and 2014 White Papers: namely, grants, interest-free loans, and concessional loans. The regulations stipulate that MOFCOM is, in conjunction with the relevant departments under the State Council, responsible for formulating mid-to long-term foreign aid policy and country aid strategies, which shall be implemented upon approval. MOFCOM is responsible for collecting, collating, and preparing statistical material on foreign aid. The release of this document is a significant step towards enhancing China’s institutionalisation of aid mechanisms. However, due to the definition of ‘foreign aid’ mentioned above, MOFCOM was unable to consolidate other relevant forms of assistance covered by other budget items, such as ‘international organisations’. In Section 3, the
PY - 2018/7
Y1 - 2018/7
N2 - This article presents updated estimates of China’s foreign aid between 2001 and 2014 as a proxy for China’s official development assistance (ODA) as defined by the OECD-DAC, and to compare this with the ODA of other DAC members. China’s net foreign aid increased from US$5.2bn in 2012 to US$5.4bn in 2013, but dropped to US$4.9bn in 2014. Since 2013, China has ranked at number nine. Its bilateral foreign aid has ranked at number six, alongside Japan and France, since 2012, while multilateral foreign aid has been relatively less significant. It is estimated that net disbursements of preferential export buyer’s credits decreased from US$4.9bn in 2012 to US$4.7bn in 2013, increasing to US$6.1bn in 2014. China has increased the volume of its foreign aid, improved the quality of it, and diversified the fields of aid activity. It is important for the international community to carefully examine the magnitude of China’s foreign aid.
AB - This article presents updated estimates of China’s foreign aid between 2001 and 2014 as a proxy for China’s official development assistance (ODA) as defined by the OECD-DAC, and to compare this with the ODA of other DAC members. China’s net foreign aid increased from US$5.2bn in 2012 to US$5.4bn in 2013, but dropped to US$4.9bn in 2014. Since 2013, China has ranked at number nine. Its bilateral foreign aid has ranked at number six, alongside Japan and France, since 2012, while multilateral foreign aid has been relatively less significant. It is estimated that net disbursements of preferential export buyer’s credits decreased from US$4.9bn in 2012 to US$4.7bn in 2013, increasing to US$6.1bn in 2014. China has increased the volume of its foreign aid, improved the quality of it, and diversified the fields of aid activity. It is important for the international community to carefully examine the magnitude of China’s foreign aid.
KW - China
KW - Concessional loans
KW - Development finance
KW - Foreign aid
KW - ODA
KW - OECD-DAC
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U2 - 10.19088/1968-2018.148
DO - 10.19088/1968-2018.148
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85052664261
SN - 0265-5012
VL - 49
SP - 49
EP - 72
JO - Institute of Development Studies, Bulletin
JF - Institute of Development Studies, Bulletin
IS - 3
ER -