International economic assistance refers to grants and preferential loans provided by relevant national economic organizations to developing countries. It is actually an integral part of long-term international capital flow. The typical international economic aid in the early postwar period was the Marshall Plan for European Renaissance implemented by the United States in 1947- 1950. Since 1950s, international economic and financial organizations have begun to provide international economic assistance to many developing countries. In the early 1970s, the General Assembly agreed that the proportion of aid should reach 1% of each country's gross national product, of which official development assistance should reach 0.7%. But in practice, developed countries, including the United States, have not met this requirement. On the contrary, since the 1980s, this proportion has declined.
International economic aid was formed after World War II and gradually became an internationally recognized policy. Mainly divided into official and unofficial categories, in official assistance, international organizations, regional institutions or a country have international economic assistance projects; Unofficial mainly refers to the low-interest loans provided by private commercial banks to underdeveloped areas. The recipient countries are mainly developing countries, and international economic assistance has become an important issue for the international community to deal with North-South relations.
Forms of international economic assistance
1, official development assistance
This is the main form of international economic assistance, which can be divided into bilateral assistance and multilateral assistance.
2. Other official funds
Other official funds refer to export credits subsidized by the government and loans jointly issued by international financial organizations and commercial banks.
3. Private funds
Private funds mainly refer to export credit supported by unofficial export credit insurance institutions, as well as donations and subsidies sponsored by non-profit groups and individual foundations.
International economic aid agencies
1. Institutions providing official development assistance.
1) Specialized agencies established by the government, such as the the State Council Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bureau of Private Enterprises, CIDA and the Ministry of Industrial Cooperation.
2) Specialized official aid funds, such as Belgian Foundation for Development Cooperation (FCD), Swedish Foundation for Industrial Cooperation with Developing Countries (SWEDFUND), Danish Ministry of Finance for Promoting Industrialization of Developing Countries (1FC), Finnish Foundation for Industrial Development Cooperation (FINNFUND), French Foundation for Aid and Cooperation (FAC), etc.
3) Official investment and development companies or institutions with assistance functions, such as the German Investment and Finance Corporation for Developing Countries (DEF), are the main institutions for the government to implement the "loans to small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries" assistance plan, and the American Overseas Private Investment and Finance Corporation (OPIC) and the private direct investment treasury; British Federal Development Cooperation Corporation (CDC); French Central Treasury for Economic Cooperation (CCCE) and Foreign Industrial Development Credit (DIE); Export-Import Bank of Japan, Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECD) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
4) Multilateral aid agencies are mainly international economic and financial organizations, such as the World Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations Fund for Agricultural Development, the European Development Fund of the European Union, and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.
2. International organizations that discuss assistance issues.
Mainly refers to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (whose member countries are closely related to the IMF) and the Development Assistance Committee of OECD. The latter consists of 18 members from the countries of the Executive Committee (Britain, USA, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada and Ireland) and Council of Europe.