Development finance
Other Official Flows (OOF)
Definition
Other Official Flows are transactions by the official sector to developing countries and multilateral institutions that do not qualify as Official Development Assistance — either because their primary purpose is not development (for example export-related official finance) or because they are not sufficiently concessional under OECD DAC criteria.
References
Supports definition and framing.
Overview
What it means
OOF captures the substantial volume of non-concessional official lending and investment to developing countries. Tracking it alongside ODA gives a fuller picture of total official support for development, a measure now formalised as Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD).
How it is used
The OECD DAC reports OOF in its creditor reporting statistics; analysts use the category to compare concessional and non-concessional development finance across donors and instruments.
Why it matters
Distinguishing OOF from ODA preserves the integrity of aid statistics and clarifies what counts as development assistance, a matter of accountability for donors and of realism about the finance actually available to developing countries.