In 2010, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) provided, for the first time, whole-of-government reporting of its aid flows at the activity level to the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), making it the first country outside the DAC’s membership to report in such detail.

The data show that in 2009, the UAE disbursed USD 1 038.2 million in gross official development assistance (ODA). This exceeds the aid volumes of six DAC donors, making the UAE the third largest donor outside the DAC after Saudi Arabia and China.

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Transparency on aid flows is an important tool for accountability – both for the countries benefitting from aid and for citizens of the country providing aid. More detailed and comprehensive information on development co-operation flows allows providers and recipients alike to make more informed decisions on aid allocations and helps to identify countries and sectors that may be over- or under-funded. The DAC warmly welcomes the efforts of the UAE to collect and report its aid flows, and hopes that all major providers of development co-operation will begin to do so. It stands ready to collaborate with them to improve the tracking of development co-operation flows at the global level.

by Kimberly Smith, OECD Development Co-operation Directorate, March 2011

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