Great Britain has become the worlds second largest overseas aid donor with a 12 percent increase in spending in the past year, the Labour government said Thursday.
Aid spending rose 808 million british pounds in the last financial year to a new record of pounds 7,5 billion pounds, putting UK second behind the US.
Douglas Alexander, British Secretary of State for International Development (udviklingsminister), commented:
– It is clear that the UK is keeping its promises and that aid for development is increasing. Every year our aid helps to lift around 3 million people permanently out of poverty and empowers poor countries to provide basic services such as health and education that we commonly take for granted.
The DFID (det britiske Danida) aid programme accounted for 4,923 billion pounds of the development spending total, up from 4,464 billion in 2005-06. Bilateral assistance in 2006-07 was the major expenditure at 2,562 billion (52 per cent), multilateral assistance was 2,126 billion (43 per cent) and the remaining 234 million pounds (5 per cent) was spent on administration.
DFIDs aid over the past ten years has helped to:
– put more children into primary school – 17 million more in Bangladesh, six million in Ethiopia and over five million in Afghanistan;
– fund 700 more nurses in Malawi and 3.000 health workers in Uganda;
– bring clean water to over 2,5 million people in India, Pakistan and Iraq;
– save five million lives by immunising against common diseases through the International Finance Facility for Immunisation; and
– successfully support the first democratic elections in the DR Congo.
In Africa, total UK expenditure on development (GPEX) rose to 2,992 billion pounds in 2006-07, an increase of 569 million or 23 percent on 2005/06.
The UK is committed to meeting the UN target of spending 0,7 per cent of the Gross National Income (GNI) on aid by 2013, ahead of the agreed European target of 2015.
Mr Alexander concluded:
– We are committed to increasing our aid to poor countries, but fighting poverty and promoting development is not just about aid. The Prime Minister has signalled a new phase for delivering on our promises built upon new global partnerships – such as the new International Health Partnership launched in August – and doing more beyond aid.
– That means promoting fair trade and encouraging economic growth that will bring jobs and prosperity as we’ve seen in India and China. And it means tackling climate change that impacts most upon the poor and helping fragile states emerge from conflict, Mr. Alexander concluded.
Kilder: www.worldbank.org samt www.dfid.gov.uk
