Development Co‑operation Profiles

Bulgaria

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Introduction

Bulgaria has been a development co-operation provider since joining the European Union (EU) in 2007. Bulgaria’s objectives for development co-operation are guided by its multilateral commitments to be a consistent, reliable and predictable partner in the fight against poverty and in promoting sustainable development globally in the Middle East, Asia and Africa and in support of neighbouring countries, including by sharing its own experience. Bulgaria’s total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 169.7 million, preliminary data) decreased in 2023, representing 0.19% of gross national income (GNI).1

Find the methodological notes behind the profile here.

Policy

The overarching policy framework for Bulgaria’s development co-operation is determined by its national priorities, as well as its obligations under fundamental EU instruments and its commitments to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In addition, Decree No. 234/2011 on Bulgaria’s policy on participating in international development co-operation defines the goals, principles, mechanisms and institutional framework of development co-operation and humanitarian aid. It also provides guidelines for planning, implementing, monitoring, evaluating and auditing Bulgaria’s development co-operation. Bulgaria develops medium-term programmes for its development co-operation and humanitarian aid detailing priorities, financial allocations and expected outcomes.

The Mid-Term Programme for Development Assistance and Humanitarian Aid 2020-2024 acknowledges the need for Bulgarian development assistance and humanitarian aid to prioritise activities related to mitigating the health, economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and expands the range of beneficiaries, with additional countries from North Africa (Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia) and sub-Saharan Africa (Angola, Ethiopia, Namibia, Nigeria). In 2022, the Bulgarian development co-operation and humanitarian aid policy continued to be affected by the COVID-19 crisis, which was further exacerbated by the Russian Federation’s war of aggression on Ukraine due to the need to increase humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

ODA allocation overview

Bulgaria provided USD 169.7 million (preliminary data) of ODA in 2023 (USD 162.7 million in constant terms), representing 0.19% of GNI. This was a decrease of 30% in real terms from 2022. With this, Bulgaria is not in line with its EU commitment (0.33% by 2030) and international commitment to achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio. Within Bulgaria’s ODA portfolio in 2022, 100% was provided in the form of grants.2

 

Note: Data on ODA volumes (figure above) are in constant 2022 prices. Data for 2023 are preliminary. See the methodological notes for further details.

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Performance against commitments and DAC recommendations

Description	Target	2021	2022	2023, preliminary
ODA as a share of GNI (%)	0.33	0.12	0.27	0.19
Total ODA to least developed countries as a share of GNI (%)	0.15-0.20	0.02	0.01
Grant element of total ODA (%)	>86	100	100	100

Note: This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC recommendations. ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income; DAC: Development Assistance Committee.

Bulgaria provided slightly more of its ODA bilaterally than through multilateral channels in 2022. Gross bilateral ODA was 59.7% of total ODA disbursements. A share of 0.6% was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions). Bulgaria allocated 40.3% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.

 

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ODA for Ukraine

In 2023, Bulgaria provided USD 210 thousand of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s war of aggression, an 82.5% decrease from 2022 in real terms. USD 160 thousand of the amount was humanitarian assistance in 2023, an 86.2% decrease from 2022.

 

Note: The amount reported in 2023 is an estimate, based on preliminary figures reported to the OECD and published in April 2024.

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ODA to and through the multilateral system

In 2022, Bulgaria provided USD 95 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, an increase of 26.8% in real terms from 2021. Of this, USD 93.6 million was core multilateral ODA, while USD 1.4 million were non-core contributions earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. Project-type funding earmarked for a specific theme and/or country accounted for 2.7% of Bulgaria’s non-core contributions and 97.3% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).

 

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Ninety-two per cent of Bulgaria’s total contributions to multilateral organisations in 2022 were allocated to EU Institutions.

 

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The UN system received 2.9% of Bulgaria’s multilateral contributions, of which USD 794 thousand (29%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 2.7 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Bulgaria’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were the UN Secretariat (USD 844 thousand), the WHO (USD 212 thousand) and UNHCR (USD 204 thousand).

 

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See the section on Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system. Learn more about multilateral development finance.

Bilateral ODA

In 2022, Bulgaria’s bilateral spending tremendously increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 138.8 million of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 925.9% in real terms from 2021, when Bulgaria’s bilateral ODA amounted to USD 13.5 million. The increase is largely due to the increase in in-donor refugee costs. In 2022, country programmable aid was 16.4% of Bulgaria’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to a non-DAC country average of 47%. In-donor refugee costs were USD 113.7 million in 2022, an increase of 1 703.2% in real terms over 2021, and represented 81.9% of Bulgaria’s total gross ODA.

 

Note: NGO: non-governmental organisation.

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In 2022, Bulgaria channelled their bilateral ODA mainly through the public sector.

 

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Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA

In 2022, Bulgaria’s bilateral ODA was primarily focused on the Middle East. USD 19.4 million was allocated to countries in the Middle East and USD 4.9 million to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 23.5% for Ukraine), accounting respectively for 14% and 3.5% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 546 thousand was allocated to countries in Asia beyond the Middle East. Europe was also the main regional recipient of Bulgaria’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations. This is partially in line with Bulgaria’s regional development co-operation priorities.

Bilateral ODA by recipient country

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In 2022, only 17.4% of gross bilateral ODA went to Bulgaria’s top 10 recipients. This is a considerable decrease compared to previous years, due to the large share of support to refugees in donor countries. Its top 10 recipients are mostly in Europe (Eastern Europe and Western Balkans) where Bulgaria has programmes with 12 countries, in line with its focus on its immediate neighbourhood and its policy priorities. However, Bulgaria’s biggest recipient in 2022 was Iran, receiving 13.8% of Bulgaria’s gross bilateral ODA. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 82.1%, of which 99.8% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.

 

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In 2022, Bulgaria allocated 0.01% of its GNI to the least developed countries (LDCs). Bulgaria allocated 14.8% of gross bilateral ODA to lower-middle income countries (LMICs) in 2022, noting that 82.1% was unallocated by income group. Additionally, Bulgaria allocated 0.7% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries (LLDCs) in 2022, equal to USD 928 million.

 

Note: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.

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Fragile contexts

Bulgaria’s support to fragile contexts reached USD 19.5 million in 2022, representing 14.1% of Bulgaria’s gross bilateral ODA. Two per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance. Learn more about support to fragile contexts on the States of Fragility platform.

 

Note: HDP: humanitarian-development-peace. The chart represents only gross bilateral official development assistance that is allocated by country.

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Sectors

In 2022, the majority of Bulgaria’s bilateral ODA was allocated to social infrastructure and services and refugees in donor countries. Investments in social sectors accounted for 16.6% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 23.1 million), with a strong focus on health and population (USD 21.1 million). Health and population accounted for 15.1% of gross bilateral ODA in 2022. Bulgaria spent USD 113.7 million to support refugees in donor countries, representing 81.5% of its gross bilateral ODA. Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 2.2 million (1.6% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations mostly focused on humanitarian assistance in 2022.

 

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ODA for COVID-19

In 2022, Bulgaria disbursed USD 20.8 million in ODA for the COVID-19 response. Almost all (99.8%) of this ODA was provided in the form of vaccine donations.

Total official support for sustainable development

Total official support for sustainable development is an international statistical standard that monitors all official and officially supported resources for financing the SDGs in developing countries, as well as for addressing global challenges. It provides a broader measure of development finance with the objective of increasing transparency and accountability of all external support that developing countries receive. In 2022, activities reported by Bulgaria as TOSSD totalled USD 235.5 million, and Bulgaria’s TOSSD activities in support of sustainable development mostly targeted SDG 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, and SDG 16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.

Institutional set-up

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in particular the Co-operation for Development Department in the Foreign Economic Relations and Development Co-operation Directorate, leads and co-ordinates Bulgaria’s development co-operation activities. In co-operation with line ministries, it elaborates ODA policies and annual action plans and negotiates agreements with partner countries. In addition, the inter-institutional International Development Co-operation Council, a consultative body created in 2007, assists the Minister of Foreign Affairs in programming and promoting Bulgaria’s development co-operation.

 

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Civil society organisations active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education co-ordinate under the umbrella body, the Bulgarian Platform for International Development (BPID).

Additional resources

Bulgaria’s mid-term programme 2020-2024: https://www.mfa.bg/upload/58061/Midterm%20Programme%202020-2024_EN.docx.

Bulgaria Platform for International Development (BPID): https://bpid.eu/en.

Bulgaria has been an OECD Accession candidate since 2022. On 25 January 2022, the OECD Council decided to open accession discussions with Bulgaria and five other countries, taking into account the criteria of like-mindedness, significant player, mutual benefit and global considerations and recognising these countries’ progress toward fulfilling the criteria outlined in the Framework for Consideration of Prospective Members.

Bulgaria has been a participant of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 2018. Bulgaria participated as an Observer in the DAC peer review of Sweden in 2013.

Bulgaria has been reporting to the OECD at aggregate level since 2010 and at activity level since 2023 on 2022 activities.

Bulgaria is an Adherent to the OECD Recommendation of the Council for Development Co-operation Actors on Managing the Risk of Corruption; the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas; the OECD Declaration on Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into Development Co-operation; the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions; and the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Foreign Direct Investment Qualities for Sustainable Development. Learn more about OECD Legal Instruments and DAC recommendations.

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 2018 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.