London, May 17, GNA – Multilateral bodies such as the United Nations will see their funding from the British government slashed to just 25 per cent.
This will be in favour of bilateral programmes to ensure that money is spent “on key priorities, including educating girls and providing life-saving humanitarian support,”
UK Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, announced on Monday.
The UK’s new International Development Strategy will see 75 per cent of its £11.5 billion annual aid budget going directly to low- and middle-income countries by 2025 to help them “take control of their futures, giving them an alternative so they are not burdened with unsustainable debt with strings attached”.
Currently, the UK contributes 40 per cent of its aid to the UN, the World Bank, the European Union and other multilateral organisations as part of their overseas development assistance budgets.
Ms Truss told the UK Parliament: “The strategy will rebalance the aid budget towards bilateral programmes.
“This will give the government greater control over how money is spent, allowing a focus on priorities and improving lives around the world.
“In an increasingly geopolitical world, we must use development as a key part of our foreign policy.
“Malign actors treat economics and development as a means of control, using patronage, investment and debt as a form of economic coercion and political power.
“We won’t mirror their malign tactics, but we will match them in our resolve to provide an alternative.”
Ms Truss continued: “The new strategy, launched today, will ensure that our international development work brings benefit across the globe and here at home.
“Our strategy will deepen economic, security and development ties globally, while delivering jobs and growth in both the UK and partner countries.”
She said this would help deliver investment, support women and girls and get humanitarian assistance to those who needed it most, with £3 billion over the next three years earmarked for crisis response.
The strategy would also continue the UK’s work on climate change and global health, “and sustain our commitment to Africa”.The strategy paper noted that the continent remained important to the UK because “geostrategic competition in Africa will intensify over the next decade, and the impacts of COVID-19, climate change and biodiversity loss are increasing the vulnerability of many countries and their citizens”.
Critics called out the UK government when it reduced its aid budget by £4.5 billion in 2020, arguing that this would weaken Britain’s influence abroad.
In March, according to Bond, a UK-based international development network, its members reported that “the severance has impacted almost all previously funded international programmes”.
These covered areas such as global health and humanitarian work.
On Monday, reacting to the strategy, Bond said: “While there are some positives, there are also big gaps and a lack of detail in places.
“There is little on accountability and transparency – so how will progress be measured and how will the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] be held to account?
“We hope the detail will emerge in the raft of sub-strategies and frameworks currently being worked on by the FCDO,” Bond added.
Ms Truss, though, was upbeat about the strategy.
She said: “Today we have laid out our vision for the future of UK international development.
“Development will be at the heart of the UK’s foreign policy, which uses all the levers available – including development, diplomacy, investment, trade, defence and intelligence – to deliver on our foreign policy objectives.”
GNA