Britain may fall £410m short of international aid target — The Guardian
The United Kingdom may fail to meet its 2027 target of spending 0.3% of national income on international aid. Under the central forecast, the shortfall will amount to £410 million, while official development assistance will reach only 0.29% of gross national income, The Guardian reports.
Shortfall estimates
The Center for Global Development's (CGD) calculations are based on the Treasury's comparison of independent experts' forecasts. Researchers consider a larger shortfall of £580 million to be quite likely as well. Under that scenario, aid spending would amount to 0.28% of national income. Even under the most conservative estimate, the funding gap would equal £250 million.
Ian Mitchell, a senior fellow at CGD and co-director of the organisation's European programme, described these sums as a substantial reduction in the financial capacity of British aid. According to him, an additional £400 million could halve the planned funding cuts for Africa.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Reasons and the government's position
CGD linked the projected gap to higher-than-expected inflation: as a result, national income will be higher than the figure used during the spending review. The researchers also mentioned a change in policy regarding the budget of the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in 2025. They called on the government to provide additional funding for international aid in this week's budget.
The 0.3% target for 2027 is lower than the 0.7% commitment that the Labour Party had previously declared in its election manifesto. Prime Minister Keir Starmer lowered it to increase defence spending. According to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the official development assistance budget fell to 0.44% of gross national income in 2025 from 0.5% in 2024, a decrease of £987 million.
A ministry spokesperson said that the multi-year funding allocations announced in March 2026 were set for the following three financial years based on the gross national income figure at the time of the 2025 spending review. The department stressed that the transition to a fixed budget should reduce volatility and ensure the continuity of aid programmes.
