Figures confirm £4.6bn cut to foreign aid budget

Figures published by the Foreign Office have confirmed there was a £4.6bn reduction in the UK aid budget last year.

The fall from the previous year is in line with a UK Government decision to cut the annual foreign aid commitment from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent of gross national income (GNI).

The figures show Africa received the biggest share of the cuts to foreign aid, compared to any other region. 

The government has been criticised by organisations such as Bond, a UK network for organisations working in international development. 

Simon Starling, director of policy, advocacy and research at Bond, said: “These figures painfully illustrate the government’s gutting of UK aid and the devastating consequences. 

“By cutting £4.6 billion, we have turned our backs on marginalised people facing conflict, poverty, disease and climate change.

“The government has added salt to the wound by choosing to use what little remains of the diminished UK aid budget to reimburse its other departments for the donation of excess Covid-19 vaccines and for refugee processing.”