The United Kingdom (UK) is among the top three donor countries, spending US$19.4 billion on official development assistance (ODA) in 2018. Brexit throws up many questions for the UK’s further aid in international development. How might the UK pool its aid funding with the EU if it is no longer a member? What is the future for DFID, the main provider of the UK’s ODA? We asked several international consultants who have researched this topic to share their opinions.
“If Brexit happens, and irrespective of its particular form, it will have a profound impact on both the United Kingdom (UK) as well as on the European Union (EU) as a whole. The UK referendum in 2016, however, does not only imply severe consequences for Europe but will most likely incur a negative impact for third world countries, among which least-developed countries could be hit the hardest. Brexit has the potential to affect these countries through various channels. Conceivable is a potential loss of preferential market access leading to increased trade costs, a depreciation of the UK currency associated with a fall in British imports, a general atmosphere of uncertainty impeding long-term investments or a reduction or reallocation of UK foreign aid expenditure.”
“The UK is currently the third-largest contributor to the European Development Fund (EDF), behind Germany and France. It contributed nearly 15% of the 11th EDF, a total of nearly €4.5 bn. It can be noted that, in recent years, nearly 60% of the UK’s official development aid has been provided through bilateral means while the remainder is channeled through multilateral agencies or partners (such as the EU). The UK can therefore safely maintain its headway in terms of overseas development assistance, Brexit or not. Brexit will, therefore, have the effect of causing UKAID/ DFID to refocus its approach to UK development cooperation and, in particular, financing (policy and practice) will be differentiated along the lines of ‘countries most in need’ or LDCs, or vulnerable countries, and will be based on its national priorities and interest, much similar to current EU policy approaches. Many middle-income countries will continue to benefit from UK bilateral cooperation even though the lion’s share might remain with LDCs.”
“In my opinion, DFID has been doing a good job, but any form of Brexit will put its performance under more scrutiny. Interestingly, the largest international donor, USAID, comes under far more scrutiny than DFID from both Senate and Congress through dedicated and professional administrators. So, I see a UK body being set up (perhaps within the Audit Commission working with the FCO) to oversee DFID’s operations and performance. I foresee the international budget being reduced in the future to perhaps £5 to 6 billion with new strengthened “guidelines” introduced since past guidelines have always been open to some abuse.”
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