UK suspends 0.7% GNI commitment to aid: DI's response

DI responds to the UK government's announcement that it is suspending its commitment to allocate 0.7% of GNI for foreign aid, reducing it to 0.5% of GNI in 2021.

The UK government has announced it is suspending its commitment to allocate 0.7% of GNI for international aid, reducing it to 0.5% of GNI in 2021. This cut of over £4 billion in 2021 comes in addition to cuts of £2.9 billion already being made to the UK aid budget in 2020 as the economy shrinks.

Harpinder Collacott, Executive Director at Development Initiatives, said: “Cutting UK aid by over £4 billion will provide only 1% of what is needed to repay the current estimated budget deficit, while its impact on aid programmes will be severe. This cut equates to more than the aid the UK allocated to education, health and humanitarian response in 2018. The negative impact of these cuts on the world’s poorest people and global institutions far outweigh the benefits gained by making them.

“As we already know, the poorest people and places have been the hardest hit by the pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis. Extreme poverty is set to rise by up to 115 million people this year alone and developing countries are set to lose US$1 trillion in domestic revenues in 2020. Economic recovery will be extremely difficult without international support .

“The encouraging news about vaccines on the horizon also comes with concerns about how the world’s poorest people will be able to access them. The response to the pandemic must be global and be managed globally. Furthermore, there needs to be complete transparency and open consultation by the government on where these cuts can be made to ensure programmes which directly support some of the world’s poorest people are not casualties of today’s announcement.”

Key facts about the UK aid cut

Reducing the UK aid budget to 0.5% of GNI will result in over £4 billion in cuts in 2021, compared to if 0.7% was allocated.
This reduction equates to more than the entire UK bilateral aid budget allocated to education, health and humanitarian response in 2018 (approximately £3.4 billion including UK bilateral programmes and bilateral spending through multilateral channels).
The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that UK borrowing will be £394 billion for this financial year; cutting aid provides the government with just 1% of the amount needed to repay the budget deficit.