According to Dominic Raab, British Minister of Foreign Affairs, spending on development assistance will remain at the level of 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI).
The media had previously been informed that the British government had planned to cut this assistance and instead use the funds for defence and intelligence. Despite this declaration, British opposition had already raised serious concerns about the effectiveness of foreign aid, due to the government decision to combine the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the Department for International Development (DfID) to establish the Commonwealth and Development Office.
The newly-merged department began its activities with a promise to protect “the world’s poorest” from coronavirus and famine.
The closure of the Department for International Development was probably caused by pressure from the Conservative Party which aimed at such an outcome. However, the government insists that this step was taken to better deal with global challenges thanks to a more comprehensive policy and in strengthening its expertise in foreign assistance.
[See also DevelopmentAid’s Experts’ Opinions | The future of DFID and UK development cooperation]
Boris Johnson, UK’s Prime Minister, announced the transition in June, arguing that the merger would represent a long-term reform and would allow financial means to be better spent and would target the aims of aid according to British foreign interests. The decision was criticised by three previous prime ministers, Conservative David Cameron and Labour’s Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Mr. Cameron considered that it would mean “less expertise, less voice for development at the top table and ultimately less respect for the UK overseas”. Tories rejected this criticism and stressed that this step would boost UK’s diplomatic impact and expertise on development needs around the world.
It is not the first time that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development (DfID) have merged only to later be split up again and Conservative party members had been considering the current merger for a long time.
In the meantime, the government is revising its defence and security policy spending and preparing its budget for the next few years. Rishi Sunak, British Chancellor of the Exchequer, has announced that the planned purchase of advanced cyber weaponry and AI-based drones would be met by development aid budget.
Nevertheless, Mr. Raab has declared that the British government still intends to help the poorest and, according to his announcement, the total amount of the fund targeted to deal with the negative effects of the coronavirus and famine will reach £119m. The fund will be held by the newly merged department for disposal.
The British government is planning to support those countries seriously affected by the pandemic and where the outbreak has considerably worsened living conditions, especially in countries facing wars and extreme hunger such as Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Somalia, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Sudan, and West Africa’s Sahel region.
Furthermore, Dominic Raab has announced that Nick Dyer, Director General of DfID, is to be appointed as the UK’s first special envoy for famine prevention and humanitarian affairs.
The United Kingdom (UK) spent nearly £15.2 billion on Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2019, ranking it among the TOP-3 Development Assistance Committee donor countries. This amount is over £600 million more than the 2018 figure. A little over 73% of the total UK ODA was funneled through the Department for International Development (DFID). Despite the DFID’s ODA spending having increased, its share of total ODA decreased by 1.7% compared to 2018 and almost 7% when compared to 2013.
