Post by Phil Vernon.
The UK Government released its data on 2017 official development assistance (ODA) spending today. As required by law, the total went up to match 0.7% of the UK’s GNI, reaching £14.1 billion, an increase of 5.1% over 2016. The UK was the third largest ODA donor in 2017, some way behind Germany and giving just over half of what the USA provides. Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway and Denmark are the other four governments which meet the 0.7% target (a target I have long questioned, and I was against the idea of making it a legally binding in the UK).
Predictably, there is already some criticism about the proportion of this money being spent by DFID and other departments. And I expect there to be more – just as in previous years. The proportion DFID spent has gone down from 88.6% in 2013 to 72% last year. Other departments spending…
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