ANKARA: Turkish government provided development assistance worth nearly $18.4 billion to foreign countries over the past three years, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Sunday.
“Turkey’s development aid to other countries amounted to around $3.9 billion in 2015, which rose by 65 percent to reach nearly $6.5 billion in 2016,” Yildirim said in a statement.
“According to the preliminary figures for 2017, Turkey showed exemplary responsibility and left behind many developed countries by granting nearly $8 billion development aid to the rest of the world, especially to the Middle Eastern and African countries,” he noted.
Turkey ranks first if one takes into account national incomes, considering the country’s gross national income was $857 billion in 2016, while in the U.S. it was $18.7 trillion.
Turkey had ranked third in the DI report for the years 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Yildirim said Turkey ranked sixth among the member countries of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee in 2016 — which spent a total of $142.6 billion in development aid — and is expecting to be in the top positions in 2017.
“The priority of our aid policy is to focus on social infrastructures and services to meet basic development needs, production sectors, and urgent humanitarian support to relieve crisis zones.
“Turkey will remain the world’s conscience within our humanitarian responsibilities and international commitments.”
