Developing Country Credit Aid to Double

The size of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), a credit assistance fund for developing countries, will increase 2.2 times over the current level by 2009.

The fund will be mainly extended to Korea’s major trading partners in Asia, including Vietnam and Indonesia.

The government held an EDCF management committee, which Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance and Economy Han Duck-soo presided over yesterday in the Gwacheon Government Complex, and concluded the EDCF management strategy plan for 2006 to 2009.

According to the plan, the government will increase the amount of assistance, which stayed at about $800 million for four years from 2002 to 2005, up to $1.94 billion by 2009. This means that the average annual assistance will grow to $485 million from $200 million today.

Lee Si-hyung, a director of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, explained, “As Korea’s trade surplus with developing countries continues to increase, there are voices that argue Korea should play a role in the economic development of those countries. This is why the government decided to generate assistance funds for them.”

legman@donga.com