Japan's assistance to Ukraine stands at around $1.6 billion

Japan became the third-largest aid provider in 2021 among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to hit developing nations, government data showed on March 14.

A Japanese Foreign Ministry official said donations to developing countries through international institutions expanded in 2021 amid the prolonged outbreak of the novel coronavirus, first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, reports Kyodo.

Japan's ODA (Official Development Assistance) might have also increased in 2022, the official said, adding the government decided to take various support measures worth around $1.6 billion in total for Ukraine, which has been fighting against Russia's invasion since February last year, and its neighbouring nations.

The annual white paper on development cooperation issued by the Foreign Ministry said Japan's official assistance in 2021, calculated by international standards under the grant equivalent system, rose 8.4 per cent from the previous year to about $17.63 billion.

Among the 30 members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee, Japan surpassed Britain and ranked third on a grant-equivalent basis after the United States and Germany, up from fourth in 2020.