The Predicted Consequences of the UK’s Cuts to ODA
In the 2020 Spending Review, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that Official Development Assistance (ODA) as a share of Gross National Income (GNI) will be reduced from 0.7% to 0.5%. This was announced as a “temporary measure” and the Chancellor stated that the target will return to 0.7%, when the “fiscal situation allows”.
To put it simply, it will be extremely difficult for the Government to make the proposed cuts, whilst also protecting their priority areas in 2021. ONE analysis shows that the pre-existing commitments that need to be met in 2021 total £6.2 billion. Following this, the Government will only have £3.8 billion (a fall of 63% from 2019) left to spend on bilateral aid in its priority areas. Moreover, this figure is reduced even further if the Government decides to make the multilateral commitments which have rolled over from 2020.
