WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
9 October 2012 
 (12-5501) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Aid for Trade Original:   English 
 
 
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE ORGANISATION FOR  
ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT 
  
 The following communication, dated 4 Oct ober 2012, received from the Organisation for 
Economic Co-operation and Developmen t (OECD), is being circulated to  delegations for information. 
 
 
_______________ 
 
 
 
AID FOR TRADE IN 2010 
 
CONTINUED GROWTH, MODEST OUTLOOK 
 WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
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  TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 
Page 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................. ...... 3 
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. ................ 4  
1.  How much aid for trade wa s committed in 2010? .................................................................. 4  
2.  Where has aid for trade been committed? .............................................................................. 6  
Africa and Asia receive the bulk of aid for trade  ................................................................................... 6  
Commitments to all income groups have increased  ............................................................................... 7  
The share of regional programmes almost doubled  .............................................................................. 7  
Commitments remain concentrated  ........................................................................................................ 8  
Small Island Developing States receive minor l evels of aid for trade but high on a per 
capita basis  .............................................................................................................................. ... 9 
3.  Who are the main providers of aid for trade? ...................................................................... 10  
South-south trade-related cooperation  ................................................................................................. 11  
4.  In what form is trade-related assistance provided? ............................................................. 12  
The share of loan and grants in aid for trade is stable  ........................................................................ 12  
Other Official Flows remain at a high level  ........................................................................................ 12  
5.  How much aid for trade has been disbursed? ...................................................................... 13  
Aid-for-trade disbursements reached almost USD 33 billion in 2010 ................................................. 13  
6.  What role is the G20 playing in aid for trade? ..................................................................... 14  
7.  What is the outlook for aid for trade?................................................................................... 15  
ANNEX 1:  GLOBAL FLOWS......................................................................................................... .. 16 
ANNEX 2:  CREDITOR REPORTIN G SYSTEM (CRS) CODES ................................................. 18  
 
Figures 
 
Figure 1.  Aid-for-Trade by Category .......................................................................................... ........... 5 
Figure 2.  Aid for Trade by Region ............................................................................................ ............. 6  
Figure 3.  Aid for Trade by Income Group ...................................................................................... ....... 7 
Figure 4.  Top 20 Recipients of Aid for Trade ................................................................................. ....... 9 
Figure 5.  Aid-for-trade donors in 2010 ....................................................................................... ......... 11 
Figure 6.  Aid for Trade: Loans and Grants .................................................................................... ...... 12 
Figure 7.  Trade-related Other Official Flows ................................................................................. ..... 13 
Figure 8.  Aid-for-trade disbursements, 2006-2010 ............................................................................. . 14 
Figure 9.  Aid for trade from G20 countries ................................................................................... ...... 15  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
 
 This report gives details of aid-for-trade flows in 2010 provided by donor countries, 
multilateral and regional financial institutions. In sp ite of the fiscal and economic difficulties faced by 
many donor countries, aid-for-trade commitments reached USD 45 billion in 2010 an increase of 12% 
in real terms since 2009 and 82% since the 2002-05 baseline.  The Aid-for-Trade Initiative continues 
to succeed in mobilising resources for aid for trade.   Yet the outlook for aid for trade is less positive.   Total bilateral ODA commitments peaked in 
2010, with the 2011 figures showing a 3% decrea se due to continuing tight budgets in OECD 
countries.  It is expected that this will continue to  put pressure on aid levels in the coming years.  If 
aid for trade maintains its share of sector allocable  aid, then a slight drop in overall aid-for-trade 
levels should be expected.  Nevert heless, there are strong indications that the international community 
has mobilised more and better aid for trade a nd the 2010 figures confirm continued progress in 
achieving this objective. 
    WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
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  INTRODUCTION
1 
1. This report provides details of how the intern ational community has responded to the call for 
more aid for trade.2 In spite of the fiscal and economic di fficulties faced by many donor countries, 
aid-for-trade commitments reached USD 45 billion in 2010, an increase of 12% since 2009 and 82% 
since the 2002-05 baseline.  Donors have provided significant investments in  renewable energy, low-
carbon transportation networks, trade policy an d regulations.  These resources have boosted 
sustainable agricultural productivity and contributed to  the realisation of food security objectives; it 
also contributed to improving transportation networ ks and storage facilities, and building productive 
capacity in agriculture, banking and tourism.  Aid fo r trade is also contributing to the promotion of 
regional integration through mu lti-country programmes such as cross-border infrastructure and 
support for Regional Trade Agreements .  In addition to large investme nt projects, aid for trade also 
supports smaller but potentially catalytic efforts su ch as feasibility studies, pilot projects and technical 
training. 
2. With increasing resources comes a need to showcase the results that aid for trade is achieving 
in stimulating sustainable economic growth.  Indeed, ever since its inception in 2006, aid for trade has 
been supporting developing countries in their effo rts to overcome their human, institutional and 
physical binding trade-related constraints, to improve their business environment, to provide 
marketing assistance and market information, and to  reduce the thickness of borders to connect local 
producers to global value chains.  Aid for trade is also helping to strengthen economic links between 
regions and countries.  In short, aid for trade is stimulating new drivers of aggregate demand and more 
enduring sources of global growth.  
3. The remainder of this report is structured as follows: Section 1 examines how much aid for 
trade has been committed by the donor community. Sec tion 2 identifies the main recipients of aid for 
trade at the regional and country level, while secti on 3 looks at the providers. This is followed by a 
discussion on trade-related financing through grants, loans and other official flows in section 4. Section 5 examines the disbursement of aid for trade in 2010 and since 2006. Disbursements are being 
bolstered by increased commitment from G20 member s which is described in section 6. Section 7 
provides the outlook for aid for trade.
3   
1. How much aid for trade was committed in 2010? 
4. Aid-for-trade commitments have grown by an  average of 13% per year since the 2002-05 
baseline.  In 2009, commitments remained steady at similar levels to the exceptional growth seen in 
2008. Annual growth resumed in 2010 with a 12% incr ease.  Total aid-for-trade commitments have 
increased by 82% since 2002-05 (figure 1).  The increase in aid for trade was additional, i.e. not at the 
expense of other sectors.  In fact, the share of ai d for trade in sector allocable aid has consistently 
averaged just over 32% since 2006. 
                                                      
 1 Questions or comments regarding this document should be addressed to William Hynes at the OECD 
Development Cooperation Directorate (William.Hynes@oecd.org).  
2 The monitoring of aid-for-trade flows is based on data extracted from the OECD DAC Creditor 
Reporting System.  These data are the unique source for official, standard and compar able statistics on Official 
Development Assistance.  The OECD Development Assi stance Committee (DAC) collects aid flows at activity 
level through the Creditor reporting System (CRS) and ex panded CRS (CRS++), and in the form of aggregates 
through the annual DAC Questionnaire.  The data collection is based on a standard methodology and agreed 
definitions.  Data can be used to analyse trends and compare the efforts of donors. 
3 Information regarding individual aid-for-trade recipients as well as donors' aid-for-trade commitments 
and disbursements can be found at http;//www.aid4trade.org .  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
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Figure 1.  Aid-for-Trade by Category 
 
Commitments, USD billion (2010 constant) 
05101520253035404550
2002‐05 avg. 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010Trade Policy & Regulations Economic  Infrastructure
Building Productive  Capacity Trade‐related Adjustment
 
 
Note:  Building Productive Capacity includes trade development activities, which since 2007 have become separately 
identifiable in the CRS. Trade-related Adju stment, also available since 2007, may be invisible on the chart due to the small 
amounts reported. 
Source : OECD-DAC Aid Activiti es database (CRS). 
 
5. The return to growth was spurred by furthe r commitments to economic infrastructure which 
grew by 22% after zero growth in  2009. Aid to economic infrastruct ure now stands at USD 27 billion, 
59% of total aid for trade and double that of the 2002-05 baseline. These additional resources have 
helped to build roads, ports, and telecommunications networks that contributed to reductions in trade 
costs and helped domestic producers connect to regional markets and the global economy. Aid to 
building productive capacity, which helps support the private sector to exploit comparative 
advantages through expanding and dive rsifying exports, held steady at USD 17 billion, 37% of total 
flows and up by 64% from the baseline. The Trade Deve lopment Marker indicates that of this USD 17 
billion, USD 4.6 billion had a primary or significant trade development objective.4  
6. Support for trade policy and regulations, which assists partner countries to develop trade 
strategies, negotiate trade agreements and implem ent their outcomes stood at USD 1.4 billion or 3% 
of the total. Trade-related adjustment aiding e fforts to absorb the cost s associated with trade 
liberalisation, such as tariff reductions, preference erosion, or declining terms of trade increased to 
USD 29 million, double the 2009 figure. On a more deta iled level, trade facilitation has increased four 
                                                      
4 Since the first monitoring exercise, the CRS allows components of a productive capacity building 
project to be marked (using the "trade development policy marker") as relevant to trade development. It 
identifies trade development activities within the broader aid-for-trade category of building productive capacity 
(i.e. activities marked as contributing "principally" or "significantly" to trade development).  All bilateral donors now report using the marker. 
 WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
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  times since the baseline and now st ands at almost USD 400 million. A significant provision of these 
funds support regional trade facilitation efforts in  Sub-Saharan Africa (USD 130 million) and Oceania 
(USD 42 million) as well as least deve loped countries (30% of the total). 
2. Where has aid for trade been committed? 
Africa and Asia receive the bulk of aid for trade 
7. In 2010, Africa and Asia accounted for 77% of total flows, equally receiving commitments of 
USD 17 billion.  Commitments to other regions we re less and not so evenly distributed with 
USD 3.2 billion to the Americas, USD 2.8 billion to  Europe, and USD 0.5 billion to Oceania and the 
remainder USD 3.9 billion unspecified.  
8. Figure 2 shows the distribution of commitm ents by region from the 2002-05 baseline. 
Increased support provided in 2010 was widely di spersed, with an additional USD 1.8 billion to 
Africa, a further USD 1.4 billion to Asia and USD 1.4 billion to Europe.  Of Japan's USD 9 billion commitment in 2010, USD 6 billion went to Asia . For Africa, the World Bank is the largest donor 
with USD 3.4 billion, while Japan also provided  USD 2 billion, followed by the United States, 
USD 1.6 billion and the European Union Institutions, USD 1.2 billion.  The United States is the 
largest donor to the Americas with almost USD 450 million, 25% of the total.  The European Union 
institutions are the largest donor to the Europe regi on, 36% of the total and Australia is the largest 
donor to Oceania providing 50% of total commitments to the region. 
9. Since 2002-05 commitments to Africa have grown by 180% in real terms, while aid for trade 
to Latin America and the Caribbean and Oceania ha s doubled.  Flows to Europe have increased by 
80% and there has also been steady prog ress in Asia with an increase of 34%. 
 
Figure 2.  Aid for Trade by Region 
 
Commitments, USD billion (2010 constant) 
02468101214161820
Africa America Asia Europe Oceania
2002‐05 avg. 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
 
Source:  OECD-DAC Aid Activiti es database (CRS). 
  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
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  Commitments to all income groups have increased 
10. The lion share of aid for trade goes to Lo w Income Countries (LICs) which received 
USD 20.7 billion in 2010, an increase of 104% from its 2002-05 baseline figure. More specifically the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) at USD 13.7 bil lion received 30% of total aid for trade in 2010 
and Other Low Income Countries (OLICs) 16%. (figure 3).  Lower Middle Income countries (LMICs) 
received commitments of USD 14.7 billion, an incr ease of 37% since the baseline period.  Upper 
Middle Income countries received a much smaller share of aid for trade with USD 3 billion, an 
increase of 70% over the same time period.  Th e largest bilateral donor to the LDCs is the 
United States at USD 2.5 billion, or 40% of thei r total 2010 commitment of USD 6.6 billion.  The 
European Union (Institution plus DAC member states) provided USD 2.2 billion.  Japan provides 
almost half of total aid for trade to the LMICs (USD 4.8 billion of USD 11 billion) and also nearly 
half of all support to the OLICs.  Over 60% of ai d to transport provided by Japan has been committed 
to LMICs and almost 30% to LICs.  The European Un ion is the largest provider to UMICs, mostly in 
Europe with just under 30% of the total. 
 
Figure 3.  Aid for Trade by Income Group 
 
Commitments, USD billion (2010 constant) 
0510152025
2002‐05 avg. 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010LICs LMICs UMICs
 
 
Source:  OECD-DAC Aid Activiti es database (CRS). 
 
The share of regional programmes almost doubled 
11. Regional trade integration can serve as a powe rful catalyst to economic growth.  However, 
developing countries sometimes face particular ins titutional capacity constraints that limit their ability 
to capitalise on the full potential from such processes .  For example, poor cross-border infrastructure 
may prove to be a particular challenge for low-inco me developing countries.  This highlights the need 
for more and better aid to address such binding c onstraints to regional trade integration, a point 
increasingly affirmed by partner countries and donors alike.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
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  12. In 2010, donors provided USD 5 billion to regional projects and programmes, up 
USD 1.4 billion from the 2002-05 baseline.  Regional programmes now account for 11% of total aid 
for trade.  Increasing regional programs promote the expansion of markets through reducing the 
thickness of borders, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.  The North-S outh Corridor Pilot aid-for-trade 
programme is a good example of such a regional progr amme. Its aim is to reduce the time, and so the 
costs, of road and rail travel along two priority corridors identified by the New Partnership for 
Africa’s Development (NEPAD) programme, i.e. (i) th e Dar es Salaam Corridor, which links the port 
of Dar es Salaam to the Copper be lt;  and (ii) the North-South Corridor, which links the Copper belt to 
the southern ports of South Africa.  The Corridor, along with its spurs, services eight countries: Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Zimbabwe, 
Mozambique and South Africa.  
Commitments remain concentrated 
13. Looking more closely at the specific countries that  receive aid for trade, the top ten recipients 
in 2010 received USD 16.3 billion or 36% of total aid for trade and the top 20 received USD 23.7 billion, 52%  of total flows, up from 43% in 2009 .  Asian countries make up five of the top ten 
recipients (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakist an and Vietnam), Africa four (Egypt, Kenya, 
Morocco and Tanzania) and Europe one (Turkey).  In dia is the largest recipient with USD 3.3 billion 
mostly for rail transport (USD 2.4 billion) provided by Japan (97% of the total).  Afghanistan is 
second, with almost USD 2 billion, mainly in the agriculture sector with USD 0.7 billion, 90% of 
which being provided by the United States.  Egypt, the was the largest recipient in Africa receiving 
USD 1.9 billion, mostly due to significant invest ments in renewable energy by Japan and Germany. 
Vietnam was the largest recipient in 2009 but support fell slightly in 2010.  Nevertheless it is placed 
fourth in 2010 at USD 1.7 billion, with signifi cant support to transport of which a large proportion 
was provided by Japan and Korea.  Kenya rounds out the top five with USD 1.6 billion, a large 
increase on 2009, driven by investments to energy (67% of total) provided mainly by Japan and France (92% of total).  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
 Page 9 
 
 
  Figure 4.  Top 20 Recipients of Aid for Trade 
 
Commitments, USD billion (2010 constant) 
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5TunisiaChinaMozambiqueCongo, Dem. Rep.UgandaIraqSenegalIndonesiaGhanaEthiopiaTurkeyPakistanBangladeshMoroccoTanzaniaKenyaVietnamEgyptAfghanistanIndia
 
 
Source : OECD-DAC Aid Activiti es database (CRS). 
 
14. Some of the largest aid-for-trade projects i nvolve transfers from G20 countries to other G20 
countries.  Japan provided large concessional loans amounting to USD 2.4 billion to India for transportation, specifically railways and to construct a "dedicated freight corridor".  Japan also funded 
the Bosporus Rail Tube Crossing Project in Turk ey (USD 500 million) and provided USD 429 million 
for energy in Indonesia.  The European Union Institutions provided USD 272 million for the 
agricultural sector in Turkey.  Germany provided USD 329 million to China for transportation and for 
energy projects USD 109 million to South Africa, USD 75 million to Brazil and USD 67 million to Mexico.  The G20 countries also contributed signi ficantly to specific-purpose programmes and funds 
managed by international organi sations.  Germany for example provided significant support to the 
Clean Technology Fund (CTF) in order to stimulat e investment in renewable energy generation. 
Small Island Developing States receive minor levels of aid for trade but high on a per capita basis 
15. The Small Island Developing States receive USD 1.8 billion in 2010, almost 70% higher than 
the 2002/05 average.  Aid for trade is much lowe r proportion of sectoral allocable ODA than other 
country groups with just 23.5% in 2010 and an av erage of just 26% since 2002.  The largest support is 
in the transport and storage with USD 374 million in 2010, followed by agriculture with USD 277 
million.  
16. The largest project is for Papua New Guinea, USD 50 million for civil aviation development 
investment provided by the Asian De velopment Bank.  Australia is a large donor to small island states 
in the Pacific and it has a Transport Sector Sup port Programme with Papua New Guinea with projects 
totalling over USD 50 million committed in 2010.  The programme provides a framework for stronger 
policy dialogue with PNG on funding and priorities for the transport sector and will also assist donor 
coordination.  The TSSP will merge existing infrast ructure projects into one major sector programme 
that will provide an overarching framework for im proved engagement with the Government of PNG WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
Page 10  
 
  on the transport sector as a whole (land, marine a nd air transport).  TSSP is envisaged as a long-term 
programme (10-15 years) that will maintain Australia's  existing levels of investment in the transport 
sector but should see the Government of PNG increasingly take responsibility for maintenance funding.  
17. The AsDB provided USD 46 million to Timor Leste for road network development.  The 
Inter-American Development Bank committed USD 29 million in Haiti for a programme to support 
the transport sector. Both and the IDB and France provided support of over USD 40 million for road 
rehabilitation in Haiti.  The largest project in agri culture was from the Europ ean Union to Jamaica as 
part of accompanying measures for sugar protoc ol countries.  The proposed programme committing 
almost USD 30 million contributes to the higher le vel objective of poverty reduction and improving 
the standards of living and well-being of th e communities living in sugar dependent areas. 
18. While Small Island states receive only 4% of the aggregate flows, many islands states are 
among the highest recipients on a per capita basis.  For example Niue receives USD 1820 per capita, St Helena over USD 1000, Cook Islands USD 375, Wallis and Futuna USD 285 and Tonga 
USD 281.5 per capita.  The average per capita amou nt received in 2010 is USD 52 per capita.  The 
smallest per capita recipients include the Demo cratic Republic of Korea (3 cents per capita), 
Venezuela (6 cents), Iran (17 cents), China (45 cents), Equatorial Guinea (63 cents) and Myanmar 
(68 cents).  While major economic infrastructure projects such as road or port construction cost a similar amount across countries, aid-for-trade per capita of that project would.
5 
3. Who are the main providers of aid for trade? 
19. The rising aid-for-trade support in 2010 was most ly driven by increased efforts from three 
donors, i.e. Japan, the United States and Germany.  Collectively they accounted for over 44% of the 
total contribution.  Just six donors account for 62% of total flows in 2010 (see figure 5).  Japan was 
the largest donor with over USD 9.4 billion, and its aid-for-trade commitments increased by almost 
50% in 2010 compared to 2009.  The United States provided almost USD 5.8 billion or 13% of total 
commitments.  The World Bank rema ins the largest multilateral donor with 12% of total flows with 
USD 5.3 billion, down 20% on 2009.  Germany’s s upport rose by 76% in 2010 to USD 4.4 billion, 
10% of the total.  While the combined contribut ion of the European Union increased by 3% to 
USD 13.8 billion, aid for trade committed from the Eu ropean Union institutions declined by 26% in 
2010 to USD 2.9 billion, 6% of total aid-for-tra de commitments.  Contributions from France have 
been relatively stable and reached USD 1.7 billion in 2010.   
                                                      
5 Commitments to fragile states currently amount to USD 7.7 billion, 17% of total aid for trade. This 
represents an increase of 125% sin ce the 2002-05 baseline. Landlocked stat es received USD 8. 7 billion in 2010, 
up 112% since the baseline. 
  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
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  Figure 5.  Aid-for-trade donors in 2010 
 
 
 
20. Many bilateral donors increased their resources fro m 2009 to 2010.  Spain provided USD 1.3 
billion, an increase of 51%. Canada provided US D 697 million, an increase of 32% and Australia 
provided USD 600 million, an increase of 22%. Cana da provides 70% of its aid for trade to 
agriculture (USD 427 million) while Australia provi des 37% to the same sector (USD 220 million). 
Over half of Korea's assistance (USD 128 million) goes to transport and storage.  There were a 
number of donors which reported their aid-for-trade flows only recently.  The Arab Fund is among the 
top 10 aid-for-trade donors with over USD 1 billion in support. Turkey registered a large increase of 
USD 82 million in 2010.  Almost all of its aid for tr ade supports trade-related technical training.  The 
United Arab Emirates provided USD 200 million in  2010, a decline of USD 278 million since 2009.  
There were also some new reporters in 2010 including Kuwait (USD 747 million), the Islamic 
Development Bank (USD 179 million)  and the GEF (USD 207 million). 
South-south trade-related cooperation 
21. South-South co-operation is an important co mplement to the ODA provided by donors.  
While the OECD possesses approximate data on the overall volume of G20 Sout h-South co-operation, 
this provides insufficient detail to establish an ai d-for-trade baseline.  Nevertheless several G20 
members which do not report to the OECD-DAC-CRS did provide information on their South-South cooperation policies and programmes through  OECD/WTO self-assessment template.  
22. China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia a nd Mexico all report an increase in trade-related 
co-operation since 2008.  China has increased spending on infrastructure construction and training in 
Asia and Africa. Brazil has focused resources on agricu lture in Africa.  Argentina has a focus on Latin 
America in the areas of institutional strengthening and sustainable development.  Mexico increased support in cargo logistics and sustainable transport as  part of the Mesoamerica Project.  Indonesia has 
increased coverage in Africa and the Pacific.  I ndia has regularly conducted special courses on trade 
issues under its Technical and Economic Co-opera tion Programme for developing countries, in 
particular LDCs, including for countries which ar e at various stages of accession to the WTO.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
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  4. In what form is trade-related assistance provided? 
The share of loan and grants in aid for trade is stable 
23. The distribution of loans and grants has been re latively stable in aid for trade flows.  On 
average, 51% of aid-for-trade flows have been provide d in grant form and 49% in loans (Figure 6).  In 
general bigger projects in middle income countries ar e financed by loans.  Smaller projects in poorer 
countries tend to be financed with grants. In 2010 there was a USD 3.8 billion increase in loans, while 
grants only increased by USD 1.1 billion.  Mo st of the increase in aid for trade in 2010 was 
concentrated in economic infrastructure and a significant proportion of aid for trade to economic infrastructure is in the form of concessional loans.   Loans are less often provided in other sectors. 
24. Loans tend to go mostly to Middle Income  Countries because of their higher capital 
productivity and repayment ability, while  LDCs receive aid for trade mostly in grants.  Two thirds of 
aid for trade to LDCs is delivered in grants and one  third in loans, used mostly to finance economic 
infrastructure projects.  However within LDCs and be tween certain periods, there is great variation in 
the amounts of aid for trade provided in loans. 
Figure 6.  Aid for Trade: Loans and Grants 
 
Commitments (per cent share) 
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
2002‐05 avg. 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Grants Loans
 
 
Source:  OECD-DAC Aid Activiti es database (CRS). 
 
Other Official Flows remain at a high level 
25. Other Official Flows (OOF) are transactions by the official sector with countries on the DAC 
List of Aid Recipients which do not meet the conditions for eligibility as Official Development Assistance or Official Aid, either because they ar e not primarily aimed at development, or because 
they have a grant element of less th an 25%.  These flows play a crucia l role in financing trade-related 
activities but they are not aid for trade. 
26. As reported in the Aid for Trade at a Glance 2011, Other Official Flows grew strongly in 
2009; this increase was for the most part sustaine d in 2010 with a decrease of 13%.  Other Official 
Flows now stand at USD 43 billi on.  Multilaterals provide over 85%  of these flows with the World 
Bank providing USD 17 billion or 40% of the total OOF.  These less concessional resources tend to 
finance large projects in better-off.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
 Page 13 
 
 
  Figure 7.  Trade-related Other Official Flows 
 
Commitments, USD billion (2010 constant) 
05101520253035404550
2002‐05 avg. 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010Trade Policy & Regulations Economic  Infrastructure Building Productive  Capacity
 
 
Source:  OECD-DAC Aid Activiti es database (CRS). 
 
5. How much aid for trade has been disbursed? 
Aid-for-trade disbursements reached  almost USD 33 billion in 2010 
27. Disbursements, which show actua l financial payments and thus  the realisation of donors' 
intentions and the implementation of their polici es, have grown on average at around 12% every year 
since 2006.  Commitments generally lead to disbur sements, but with a time lag.  Commitments are 
often multi-year with subsequent disbursement s spread over several years and infrastructure 
investment projects generally taking the longest time to implement, lasting from five to eight years. 
Consequently, disbursement trends will always trail commitment trends.  It is clear that the higher 
commitments reported in previous OECD/WTO repor ts are leading to more disbursements which 
reached USD 33 billion in 2010.  At category leve l, flows to economic infrastructure increased by 
24% to reach USD 17.6 billion (53.5% of total di sbursements).  Annual disbursements to building 
productive capacities held steady at around USD 14 billi on (42.7% of the total).  The remaining USD 
1.2 billion (3.5% of the total) has been mostly di sbursed to trade policy and regulations with USD 68 
million disbursed to trade-related adjustment. 
28. Reviewing disbursements made between 2006 an d 2010 indicates that twenty recipients 
received 60% of the total. India, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Iraq and Indonesia were the largest recipients.  Ten of the largest recipients are from Asia, nine from Africa and one from Europe. WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
Page 14  
 
   
Figure 8.  Aid-for-trade disbursements, 2006-2010 
 
Disbursements, USD billion (2010 constant) 
05101520253035
2002‐05 avg. 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Trade Policy & Regulations Economic  Infrastructure
Building Productive  Capacity Trade‐related Adjustment
 
 
Note:  Building Productive Capacity includes trade development activities, which since 2007 have become separately 
identifiable in the CRS. Trade-related Adju stment, also available since 2007, may be invisible on the chart due to the small 
amounts reported. 
Source:  OECD-DAC Aid Activiti es database (CRS). 
 
6. What role is the G20 playing in aid for trade? 
29. Meeting at the Seoul Summit during June 26-27,  2010, the assembled leaders of the Group of 
Twenty pledged to (at least) maintain aid-for-trade  levels that reflect the average of 2006 to 2008 
beyond 2011 and tasked the OECD and the WTO to monitor progress.  
30. Members of the G20 Development Working Group that report their aid to the OECD have 
delivered significantly beyond their pledge to main tain aid-for-trade flows.  G20 aid-for-trade 
commitments reached USD 28.9 billion in 2010, up by USD 5 billion from 2009 and a 26.5% increase in real terms compared to the 2006 -2008 baseline.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
 Page 15 
 
 
   
Figure 9.  Aid for trade from G20 countries 
 
Commitments, USD billion (2010 constant) 
05101520253035
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010Trade Policy & Regulations Economic  Infrastructure
Building Productive  Capacity Trade‐related Adjustment
 
 
Source : OECD-DAC Aid Ac tivity database. 
 
7. What is the outlook for aid for trade? 
31. This report paints a mostly positive picture of aid for trade in 2010, yet overall aid from donor 
countries peaked in 2010.  Recent figures for 2011 s how a decrease of 3% in bilateral ODA flows. 
Disregarding years of exceptional debt relief, this was the first drop since 1997.  Continuing tight budgets in OECD countries will put pressure on aid levels in the coming years.  The overall aid 
envelope of many major donors fell in 2011 includi ng for large providers of aid for trade such as 
Japan (-10.8%), France (-5.6%), and Canada (-5.3 %).  However there were also increases from donors 
such as Germany (+5.9%), Korea (+5.8%) and Aust ralia (+5.7%).  The United Kingdom had a slight 
fall in 2011 after exceeding its target in 2010; however, the United Kingdom remains on track to 
achieve an ODA/GNI ratio of 0.7% by 2013.  If aid for trade maintains its share of sector allocable 
aid, then a slight drop overall might be expected.  However south-south flows are continuing to strengthen and partnerships with the private sector ha ve potential.  This combined with a G20 pledge 
will help to underwrite further progr ess of the Aid-for-Trade Initiative.  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
Page 16  
 
  ANNEX 1:  GLOBAL FLOWS 
 
 Projects and programmes are part of aid for tr ade if these activities have  been identified as 
trade-related development priorities in the partne r country’s national development strategies.  The 
WTO Task Force concluded that aid for trade co mprises the following categories:  (i) technical 
assistance for trade policy and regulations:  for exampl e, helping countries to develop trade strategies, 
negotiate trade agreements, and implement their outco mes;  (ii) trade-related infrastructure:  for 
example, building roads, ports, and telecommunicati ons networks to connect domestic markets to the 
global economy;  (iii) productive cap acity building (including trad e development): for example, 
supporting the private sector to exploit their comp arative advantages and diversify their exports; 
(iv) trade-related adjustment:  helping developi ng countries with the cost s associated with trade 
liberalisation, such as tariff reductions, preference eros ion, or declining terms of trade;  and, (v) other 
trade-related needs:  if identified as trade-related development priorities in partner countries’ national 
development strategies.  
 The Creditor Reporting System (CRS) – a da tabase covering around 90% of all ODA – was 
recognised as the best available data source for tracking global aid-for-trade flows.  The CRS aid 
activity database was established in 1967 and collects information on official development assistance 
(ODA) and other official flows to developing countries.   It is the internationally recognised source of 
data on aid activities (geographical and sectoral br eakdowns) and is widely used by governments, 
organisations and researchers active in the field of  development.  For the OECD, the CRS serves as a 
tool for monitoring specific policy issues, including aid for trade.  The policy and guidelines for CRS 
reporting are approved by DAC members as repr esented on the DAC Working Party on Statistics 
(WP-STAT).  The OECD collects, collates and verifies  the consistency of the data, and maintains the 
database.   
 The CRS enables the tracking of aid commitments and disbursements, and provides 
comparable data over time and across countries.  Th e use of an existing database led to significant 
savings of time and resources to effectively track aid-for-trade flows.  The use of the CRS entailed 
some loss of detailed information about trade-re lated technical assistance and trade development, 
formerly collected in the joint OECD/WTO trade- related technical assistance and capacity building 
database (TCB).  However, several modifications ha ve been made to the CRS to adapt it to aid-for-
trade needs. 
  It should be kept in mind that the CRS does not  provide data that match exactly all of the 
above aid-for-trade categories. In fact, th e CRS provides proxies under five headings: 
 
(i) Technical assistance for trade policy and regula tions.  In the CRS, five purpose codes are used 
to cover trade policy and regulations activities, in contrast to the 20 TCB codes.  These five 
sub-categories are:  (a) trade policy and admini strative management;  (b) trade facilitation;  
(c) regional trade agreements; (d) multila teral trade negotiations; and (e) trade 
education/training. 
 
(ii) Economic Infrastructure.  Aid commitments fo r trade-related infrastructure are proxied in the 
CRS by data under the heading "Economic Infrast ructure".  This heading covers data on aid 
for communications, energy and transport.  To  know how accurate the CRS proxies are (e.g. 
how much of the hypothetical energy project relates to trade), the CRS data must be compared with donors' knowledge of the specific features of their infrastructure aid.  So far, 
only two donors (the United States and the World Bank) are able to provide more refined data 
concerning the trade component of Economic Infrastructure projects. 
  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
 Page 17 
 
 
  (iii) Productive capacity building (including trade development).  Data on commitments of aid for 
productive capacity building exist under the CRS category "building productive capacity".  Since the first monitoring exercise, the CRS  allows components of a productive capacity 
building project (i.e. the trade development polic y marker) to be marked as relevant to trade 
development.  It identifies trade developmen t activities within the broader aid-for-trade 
category of building productive capacity (i.e. ac tivities marked as contributing principally or 
significantly to trade development).  This new category compensates the loss of precision of using the CRS instead of the TCB.  Two caveats should be kept in mind when assessing the data:  (a) some donors have not used the trade development policy marker, reflecting the fact 
that this marker is used on a voluntary basis;  (b) the amounts presented under this category 
cannot be added to the global flows;  they are part and parcel of the total flows on productive 
capacity building.  In 2008, 12 members reported on the marker.  The number of trade development activities is much smaller in the CRS than in members' TCB reporting for 2006 
(over 3,800 activities were reported by 22 DAC members).  In volume terms, the TCB total 
for 2006 was lower at USD 2.1 billion though it should be recalled that only the "trade share" 
amount was recorded in the TCB and not the tota l value of the activity.  The fact that CRS 
amounts for Belgium, New Zealand, Switzerla nd and the United Kingdom are about the same 
as, or lower than their TCB levels could theref ore be an indication of incomplete reporting. 
For the other eight users, the CRS figure is around two to three times higher than in the TCB. 
 (iv) Trade-related adjustment.  A new sub-headi ng has been introduced in the CRS to track flows 
corresponding to trade-related adjustment as of  the 2008 data collection of 2007 activities.  
This category identifies contributions to developing country budgets to assist the 
implementation of trade reforms and adjustments to trade policy measures by other countries, and alleviate shortfalls in balance-of-pay ments due to changes in the world trading 
environment.  Only two members reported ac tivities in this category in 2007, Canada 
(USD 0.3 million) and the EC (USD 17.4 million). 
 (v) Other trade-related needs.  The CRS covers  all ODA, but only those activities reported under 
the above four categories will be identified as ai d for trade.  Data on "other trade-related 
needs" cannot be gleaned from the CRS.  To estimate the volume of such "other" 
commitments, donors would need to examine aid projects in sectors other than those 
considered so far – for example in health and e ducation – and indicate what share, if any, of 
these activities have an important trade component .  A health programme, for instance, might 
permit increased trade from localities where the disease burden was previously a constraint on 
trade. Consequently, accurately monitoring aid for trade would require comparison of the CRS data with donor and partner countries self-assessments of th eir aid for trade. 
 WT/COMTD/AFT/W/36 
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  ANNEX 2:  CREDITOR REPORTING SYSTEM (CRS) CODES 
 
CODE CATEGORY SUB-CATEGORY 
Trade Policy and Regulation 
331 Trade policy and 
regulations Trade policy and planning; Trade facilitation; Regional trade agreements; Multilateral trade 
negotiations; Trade education/training  
Economic Infrastructure 
210  Transport and 
storage Transport policy and administrative manageme nt; Road transport; Rail transport; Water 
transport; Air transport; Storage; Educati on and training in transport and storage 
220 Communications  Communications  policy and administrative ma nagement; Telecommunications; 
Radio/television/print me dia; Information and comm unication technology (ICT)  
230 Energy generation 
and supply Energy policy and administra tive management; Po wer generation/non -renewable sources; 
Electrical transmission/distri bution; Gas distribution; Oil- fired power plants; Gas-fired 
power plants; Coal-fired power plants; Nuclear power plants; Hydro-electric power plants; 
Geothermal energy; Solar energy; Wind power; Ocean power; Biomass; Energy 
education/training; Energy research  
Building Productive Capacity 
240  Banking and 
financial services Financial policy and administrative management; Monetary institutions; Formal sector 
financial intermediaries; Informal/semi-formal financial Intermediaries; Education/training 
in banking and financial services  
250 Business and other 
services Business support services and institutions; Privatisation 
311 Agriculture Agricultural policy and administrative management; Agricultural development; Agricultural 
land resources; Agricultural water resources;  Agricultural inputs; Food crop production; 
Industrial crops/export crops; Livestock; Ag rarian reform; Agricultural alternative 
development; Agricultural extension; Agricultur al education/training; Agricultural research; 
Agricultural services; Plant and post-harvest protection and pest control; Agricultural 
financial services; Agricult ural co-operatives; Livest ock/veterinary services  
312  Forestry Forestry policy and ad ministrative mana gement; Forestry developm ent; Fuelwood/charcoal; 
Forestry education/training; Forest ry research; Forestry services 
313  Fishing Fishing policy and administrative management; Fishery development; Fishery 
education/training; Fishery research; Fishery services  
321  Industry Industrial policy and administrative management; Industrial development; Small and 
medium-sized enterprises (SME s) development; Cottage i ndustries and handicraft; Agro-
industries; Forest industries; Textiles, leathe r and substitutes; Chemicals; Fertilizer plants; 
Cement/lime/plaster; Energy manufacturing; Pharmaceutical production; Basic metal 
industries; Non-ferrous metal industries; Engineering; Tr ansport equipment industry; 
Technological research and development 
332  Tourism Tourism policy and administrative management  
Trade-Related Adjustment 
33150  Trade-related 
adjustment Contributions to the government budget to assist  the implementation of recipients’ own trade 
reforms and adjustments to trade policy measures  by other countries; Assistance to manage 
shortfalls in the balance of payments due to  changes in the world trading environment  
 
  
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