Turkey: Total development assistance hits $9.3B in 2017

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Turkey's total development assistance to other countries amounted to $9.3 billion in 2017, according to the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) on Wednesday.

The country's total development assistance, including official and private flows, saw an annual hike of nearly 17.5 percent last year, up from $7.9 billion in 2016.

Official data showed that 87 percent of the amount consisted of official development assistance -- the most important component of total development assistance to be used as a benchmark for international monitoring and evaluation.

With a total official development assistance of $8.12 billion, Turkey ranked sixth in the world, following the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Japan and France.

By official development assistance/gross national income ratio, Turkey was the fourth largest donor country after Sweden, Luxembourg, and Norway.

TIKA pointed that the country with a ratio of 0.95 percent exceeded the 0.70-percent-target of the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Turkey's southern neighbor Syria, which has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, was the top recipient of the Turkish official development assistance with $7.24 billion in 2017.

Somalia, Palestine, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Pakistan and Kosovo were the other countries benefitting Turkey's assistance most.

On the official emergency and humanitarian aid, Turkey provided $7.28 billion with a 0.85-percent humanitarian aid/gross national income ratio in 2017.

As a result, Turkey cemented its title as the most generous donor country in the world for the third consecutive year.

Official figures also showed that Turkey’s assistance to the least developed countries totaled $2.33 billion over the last decade.

Implementing around 2,000 activities annually through its 61 offices around the world, TIKA has completed thousands of projects in over 160 countries since 1992.