Croatia
Since becoming a development co-operation provider in 2011, Croatia has aimed to share the experience of its war and post-war transition with countries facing similar challenges. Based in the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Croatia sees its development co-operation as an enabler of more comprehensive political and economic co-operation. This co-operation has expanded over recent years, with an increase in the volume of Croatia’s official development assistance (ODA). Croatia is increasingly diversifying its development co-operation toolbox, moving away from traditional forms of support (i.e. inter-institutional ODA) towards technical assistance and other non-financial forms of support that encourage knowledge sharing. Croatia’s total ODA (USD 119.5 million, preliminary data) increased in 2022, representing 0.17% of gross national income (GNI). The increase in ODA was mainly driven by an increase in in-donor refugee costs.
Croatia’s global development policy framework is determined by its size, capacities and challenges, as well as a post-war transition experience that constitutes its key comparative advantage. This is underpinned by its Law on Development Cooperation and External Humanitarian Assistance, adopted in 2008, which provides the legal basis for its development co-operation. Croatia is currently in the process of enacting a new law, the “Law on International Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid”, which is expected to enter into force by the end of 2023.
The National Plan on Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid for the period of 2023-2026 will be adopted following the new law’s entry into force. The previous National Strategy for Development Cooperation of the Republic of Croatia for the period from 2017-2021 set out the basic parameters for the country’s development co-operation and humanitarian aid, with a core objective of overcoming poverty and decreasing aid dependence. Through its humanitarian assistance, Croatia aims to provide short-term and urgent support to those affected by natural disasters and other crises, concentrating on saving lives and health. In addition to multilateral and bilateral channels, Croatia is increasing non-financial forms of support to encourage knowledge sharing and mutual learning.
Croatia is an Adherent to the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas. Learn more about DAC recommendations.
Croatia provided USD 119.5 million (preliminary data) of ODA in 2022 (USD 123.7 million in constant terms), representing 0.17% of GNI.1 This was an increase of 41% in real terms in volume and an increase in share of GNI from 2021. Despite a slight decrease in 2016 and 2019, ODA volume has consistently increased over the past ten years. Croatia is not in line with its European-level commitment of 0.33% ODA/GNI and collective commitment of 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. Croatia provided all of its ODA as grants in 2021. Total ODA on a grant-equivalent basis has the same value as net ODA under the cash-flow methodology used in the past, as Croatia provides only grants2.
Croatia provided a higher share of its ODA multilaterally in 2021. Gross bilateral ODA was 27.2% of total ODA. Twenty-one per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions). Croatia allocated 72.8% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.
In 2021, Croatia provided USD 68.8 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, an increase of 4.9% in real terms from 2020. Of this, USD 63.9 million was core multilateral ODA, while non-core contributions were earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. Project-type funding earmarked for a specific theme and/or country accounted for 80.3% of Croatia’s non-core contributions and 19.7% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).
Ninety-one per cent of Croatia’s total contributions to multilateral organisations in 2021 was allocated to EU Institutions, other multilateral institutions, and other UN (in descending order).
The UN system received 4.4% of Croatia’s multilateral contributions, mainly in the form of core contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 3.0 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Croatia’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were the UN Secretariat (USD 1.0 million), FAO (USD 0.3 million) and WHO-Assessed (USD 0.3 million).
See the section on Geographic and sectoral focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system. Learn more about multilateral development finance.
In 2021, Croatia’s bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 23.9 million of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 16.1% in real terms from 2020.
In 2021, country programmable aid was 69.5% of Croatia’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to a non-DAC country average of 46.4% (excluding the EU institutions). In-donor refugee costs were USD 2.1 million in 2021, a decrease of 18.2% in real terms over 2020 and represented 8.8% of Croatia’s gross bilateral ODA.
In 2021, Croatia channelled bilateral ODA through the public sector, followed by multilateral organisations and universities, research institutes or think tanks.
In 2021, Croatia’s bilateral ODA was primarily focused on Europe. USD 16.0 million was allocated to Europe and USD 0.7 million to Africa, accounting respectively for 67.2% and 2.9% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 0.5 million (2.1%) was allocated to Asia (excluding the Middle East). Europe was also the main regional recipient of Croatia’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations.
In 2021, 72.1% of gross bilateral ODA went to Croatia’s top 10 recipients. Its top 10 recipients are Europe, Asia and African regions. The share of gross bilateral ODA that was not allocated by country was 27.4%, with 32.3% of this unallocated bilateral ODA spent on refugees in the donor country.
In 2021, the least developed countries (LDCs) received 3.1% of Croatia’s gross bilateral ODA (USD 0.7 million). This is lower than the non-DAC country average of 13.1%. Croatia allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (67.3%) to upper middle-income countries in 2021, noting that 27.4% was unallocated by income group. Croatia allocated 4.4% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2021, equal to USD 1.1 million.
In 2021, more than half of Croatia’s bilateral ODA was allocated to social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 81.4% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 25.5 million), with a strong focus on support to health (USD 18.2 million), education (USD 3.8 million) and other social infrastructure (USD 2.8 million). ODA for economic infrastructure and services totalled USD 0.3 million, focusing on transport and storage (USD 0.3 million). Bilateral humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 1.0 million (3.1% of bilateral ODA). In 2021, earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations focused on health, emergency response and environmental protection.
The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (Directorate for Economic Affairs and Development Cooperation, Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid) is the key institution engaged in development co-operation, co-ordination and policy-making processes. It implements development projects, along with other line ministries, such as the Ministry of Health and the Central State Office for Croats Abroad, within the scope of their competencies.
Government of Croatia, National Strategy for Development Co-operation for the Period 2017-2021: https://mvep.gov.hr/UserDocsImages//dokumenti/vanjska-politika-docs/razvojna-suradnja//181128-national-strategy-for-development-cooperation-2017-2021-eng.pdf
Reporting to the OECD since 2012 and reporting activity-level data since 2018 on 2017 activities.
On 25 January 2022, the OECD Council decided to open accession discussions with Croatia as well as five other countries, taking into account the criteria of like-mindedness, significant player, mutual benefit and global considerations and recognising the progress made by these countries toward fulfilling the criteria outlined in the Framework for Consideration of Prospective Members.
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable aid, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
Notes
← 1. DAC members adopted the grant-equivalent methodology starting from their reporting of 2019 data as a more accurate way to count the donor effort in development loans. See the methodological notes for further details.
← 2. Non-grants include sovereign loans, multilateral loans, equity investment and loans to the private sector.