New Zealand increased its official development assistance to $502m in 2014, up from $441m in 2013, the OECD said.

However, this was equivalent to 0.27% of New Zealand’s gross national income, somewhat below the DAC member average of 0.39%.

The OECD admitted that New Zealand had delivered aid effectively and used its experience of natural disasters to help manage risk in the region.

But it urged the country to use its economic recovery as an opportunity to raise its ambitions and set a timeframe for lifting its aid budget towards an internationally agreed target for donor countries of 0.7% of gross national income.

Erik Solheim, DAC chair, said New Zealand should be commended for its hard work in some of the most vulnerable and disaster-prone parts of the world, particularly in its own Pacific region.

“But its ODA-to-GNI ratio has not exceeded 0.3% in recent years, which does not compare well with countries of a similar size.

“I encourage New Zealand to do more of what it already does well.”

In 2013, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Niue, Afghanistan, the Cook Islands and Kiribati benefited the most from New Zealand’s aid, the OECD added.