The government aid review: we respond

The UK government has published a new review in which it explains how it will spend Britain’s overseas aid budget.

Read our aid values and principles>>

The Bilateral and Multilateral Aid Review states that 30 per cent of UK aid will now go to fragile and war-torn countries.

Sixteen countries will no longer receive funding from the government aid budget. Out of 27 countries that will continue to receive support, five – Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Pakistan – will receive the biggest increases.

Extremely proud

Chris Bain, Director of CAFOD, welcomed the new review.

“We should be extremely proud of the lead this government is showing in tackling poverty overseas,” he said. “Times are undoubtedly tough here, but we should be proud that this review sets out how we will be supporting some of our poorest neighbours around the world.

“It sends a clear message to the UK public and global community that fighting poverty is a fundamental part of British development policy.

“The overriding principle guiding where aid is spent should be to give money where it is needed most.

“For every pound spent on aid, fewer children will die from preventable diseases, more children will have the chance to go to school and people living with HIV and AIDS will receive life-saving drugs.”

No magic formula

"We are particularly pleased that the review includes a systematic model for assessing the need for aid, as we recommended," says Dr Amy Pollard, our Lead Aid Analyst.

“There is no ‘magic formula’ to decide how UK’s aid should be distributed between countries. The fact that the government has been transparent about the logic of their decision-making makes it possible for us to hold them to account.”

The devil in the detail

We will be very interested to see what the government’s plans mean in practice. The devil may be in the detail, and we will be publishing a thorough analysis of the review in due course.

But, from our initial analysis, we are reassured that British aid will continue to transform and save lives.

Amy Pollard says: “Broadly speaking, the government seems to have done a good job of ensuring that UK aid is given where it is needed most and where it can have the greatest impact on the lives of the poorest.”

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