UK aid cuts reduce bilateral support to some African countries by up to 90%

Foreign Office figures show reductions of as much as 90% in the bilateral support the UK will give to some African countries over the next three years. The department’s annual report includes a breakdown of how the reduction in the aid budget will affect individual countries.

Analysis by Bond shows cuts of 90% for Mozambique and Malawi by 2029, 80% for Rwanda and Sierra Leone, and 49% for Somalia.

Background on the reductions The government announced deep reductions to overseas aid spending last year to fund increases in the defence budget. Part of the approach has been to switch focus to funding multilateral donors such as the World Bank. In a written statement to parliament in March, the foreign secretary said the government would transition away from high levels of grant overseas development assistance in a range of countries while maintaining ambition through modernised partnerships.

Charity responses Charities say the scale of the reduction in direct support will jeopardise vital projects. The director of global outcomes at Save the Children said the budget allocations reflect reductions in public investment in countries and children that need it most.

The development minister said the world has changed and that crises in one part of the world now affect everyone. The minister added that the government is making every pound of UK development spending work harder for people facing the toughest crises and for taxpayers at home.

The next steps for the development policy will fall to the incoming prime minister’s pick for foreign secretary. Some MPs have urged the new prime minister to set a path back towards spending 0.7% of national income on overseas aid.