From 3.4 Tril. Won in 2021 to 4.5 Tril. Won in 2030
The South Korean government is planning to increase the scale of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) to 3.4 trillion won this year, 3.6 trillion won in 2022 and 3.8 trillion won in 2023. At least 60 percent of the fund is scheduled to go to Asian countries.
The scale is planned to reach 4.5 trillion won in 2030. The approval of the fund for the purpose of assisting in the economic development of emerging countries was 1.7 trillion won in 2017, 1.9 trillion won in 2018, 2.6 trillion won in 2019 and 800 billion won in 2020.
Specifically, the EDCF related to the green and digital economy is slated to increase from US$500 million to US$800 million this year and reach US$1.2 billion and US$1.4 billion in 2023 and 2025, respectively. The green economy-related EDCF will increase from US$200 million to US$300 million this year and the assistance will cover renewable energy development, water resources development, power efficiency enhancement, etc.
The digital economy-related EDCF will be increased from US$300 million to US$500 million this year. The fund will be spent in, for example, Indonesia’s capital city relocation project, the smart city project of Da Nang and the Nagpur-Mumbai intelligent transport system project of India.
The EDCF related to public health and healthcare will be increased from US$400 million to US$600 million. The fund will take the form of program loans provided for countries successfully implementing policy tasks presented in an effort to overcome COVID-19 and equipment loans for providing infectious disease diagnostic kits and the like without involving infrastructure construction.