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What is CRS++

The Creditor Reporting System (CRS) for bilateral official development aid (ODA) and other official flows (OOF) has been extended to cover also multilateral ODA, multilateral OOF and private flows.

CRS++ is a reporting format that contains all data items needed for reporting to the DAC.   The data items are based on definitions and statistical classifications established by the WP-STAT and endorsed by the DAC.   All ODA commitments and disbursements – both bilateral and multilateral ODA – are reported in CRS++ at the activity-level, applying the agreed classifications of aid by sector, type of aid (e.g. budget support, project-type intervention, technical assistance), type of finance (e.g. grant, loan and their terms, equity), policy objective (e.g. gender equality, climate change mitigation and adaptation), channel of delivery (e.g. NGO, PPP, UN agency, IFI, other multilateral institution), tying status.  Activity-level data in

CRS++ are then used to derive the aggregate statistics. 

The CRS++ enhances transparency of aid flows as it allows data users to find out what exactly aggregate figures on ODA are constituted of.   For example, in the DAC online databases you will find a table on main aggregates of bilateral ODA broken down by type of aid, or by recipient,  and by clicking on any cell in this table can see a list of the underlying activities.

CRS++ reporting is validated by cross-checking aggregates derived from CRS++ against total ODA reported by donors.  CRS++ is not only used by DAC members; non-DAC providers of development assistance, multilateral agencies and privates foundations (Gates) also report to the DAC in CRS++.

Guidelines and form for reporting in CRS++

The CRS++ guidelines (1.5 MB, PDF) provide reporters with general principles for reporting and examples (updated: February 2011).

The CRS++ Excel file (272KB, XLS) contains the format and all codes needed for reporting 2012 data (donors, agencies, recipients, channels and purpose codes).

The form comprises five sections: 

• Identification data allow monitoring project implementation by linking disbursement data to their original commitments.
• Basic data on the activity including brief description of the activity, sector of destination, recipient, type of aid, channel.
• Supplementary data including long descriptions and policy objective markers.
• Volume data related to the activity including commitments and information on the tying status, gross disbursements, repayments of loans.
• For loans, details on financial terms and amounts outstanding (to produce statistics on debt).

Additional note on CRS++ data on non-ODA flows

Donor countries and agencies use CRS++ to report on all flows of resources to developing countries.  However, the level of detail of reporting required varies for different categories of flows, with the most detailed level (individual activities) required on ODA and least details requested on for example export credits and private flows (semi-aggregates by type of finance and by recipient).

Related Documents

DAC Statistical Reporting Directives

Directives for reporting to the aid activity database (Creditor Reporting System)