Today the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) published new statistics on how UK aid was spent in 2021, comparing aid spending with 2020.
Analysis by Bond shows that the statistics confirm a £4.6 billion decrease in spending as a result of a decreased aid budget, now at 0.5% of Gross National Income (GNI), rather than the UN target of 0.7%. The figures also show that Africa was the region that shouldered the biggest share of the cuts.
Responding to the Statistics on International Development: Provisional UK Aid Spend 2021 published today, Professor Melissa Leach, Director of Institute of Development Studies, said:
“Today’s UK aid statistics show over a 20 percent decrease in aid spending last year, bringing international development spending to its lowest level since 2013, despite the desperate and rising need from the impacts of Covid-19, climate change and conflicts globally. These drastic and sudden cuts made to the UK ODA budget are already having devastating consequences for millions of the poorest people in the world, and have damaged the UK’s global reputation as a leader in development and international research.
“Humanitarian aid is vital but so is investment in longer-development goals and robust research and evidence to find the most cost-effective ways to address the global challenges that affect all of us – preventing future pandemics, reducing poverty and adapting to climate and environmental uncertainties.
“We hope the Secretary of State will use the opportunity in the FCDO’s upcoming International Development Strategy to restore UK aid to its core principles of supporting the poorest people in the world, wherever they are, in a transparent manner, and lead this Government to urgently restoring it’s manifesto commitment to 0.7.”