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.
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*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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