A unilateral transfer is a one-way transfer of money, goods, or services from one party to another. It is often used to describe payments made by a government to their citizens, or from one country to another country in the form of foreign aid. In these cases, the supplier of funds receives nothing in return from the recipient. A unilateral transfer differs from a bilateral transfer, such as bilateral trade, which involves reciprocal economic benefit for both parties to a transaction.