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Briefing: How the world's top donor spends its aid

A member of the UAE (United Arab Emirates) Red Crescent distributes aid to Syrian refugees in the northern Jordanian border town of Mafraq. UAE has been active in providing aid in Jordan, but has not done the same inside Syria Heba Aly/IRIN
A member of the UAE (United Arab Emirates) Red Crescent distributes aid to Syrian refugees in the northern Jordanian border town of Mafraq (March 2012)
During 2013 the United Arab Emirates spent over US$5.5 billion on Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) – at 1.33 percent, it had the largest ratio of Gross National Income to aid of any country globally during that year. * - See more at: http://controlpanel.irinnews.org/Preview/ReportPreview.aspx?ReportId=101089&Service=MID#sthash.mNMt6OiG.dpuf
During 2013 the United Arab Emirates spent over US$5.5 billion on Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) – at 1.33 percent, it had the largest ratio of aid to Gross National Income of any country globally during that year. *

This week the UAE’s Ministry of International Co-Operation and Development (MICAD) presented a detailed breakdown of how and where it spent its 2013 foreign aid. In total it supported 145 different countries, with Egypt dominating spending. Here’s a breakdown of some of the key trends.

- Overall development spending - budget assistance, fuel support, health, education, infrastructure, agriculture, energy, biodiversity etc - accounted for 94.60 percent of the money.

- The Egyptian government received more than 80 percent of this - $4.6 billion - four times the amount of the UAE’s total aid allocation in 2012 (see chart below).

- Humanitarian causes - food, shelter and other relief for emergencies – received $144.3 million (2.45 percent) and $173.96 million (2.95 percent) went to charity projects, such as religious sites and small organisations (see chart below).


- Shelter and non-food items were distributed to 32 projects in the following 10 countries: Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Sudan, Kazakhstan and the Philippines.

- Nearly two thirds of the UAE’s humanitarian aid – $87.2 million - was directed towards to Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey.

- During 2013 the Emirates Red Crescent shipped 735 tons of dates to various countries across the world.

  

More on this topic: UAE aid - a top 20 donor plans to get bigger

Serving up five-star service for refugees the UAE way

*According to the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), the body at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation (OECD) responsible for issues surrounding aid, development and poverty reduction in developing countries.

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