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BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
UK govment go cut foreign aid and Africa go dey more impacted
Di UK govment don reveal details of dia plans to cut foreign aid, and support for children education and women health for Africa go chop di biggest reductions. Dem bin don tok for February dis year say dem go slash foreign aid spending by 40% - from 0.5% of dia Gross National Income (GNI) to 0.3% - in order to increase dia defence spending. Dis dey come afta di US President Donald Trump bin approve ogbonge cut for foreign aid, including dissolving di United States Agency for International Development (USAID), di major agency wey dey oversee US aid programmes around di world. BBC don report how di US aid cuts go impact Africa especially pipo wey get serious health challenges like HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis, and also maternal and child health. One report from di UK Foreign Office show say di biggest cuts dis year na for Africa, and dis go get ogbonge impact on women health and water sanitation and di risk of disease and death fit increase. UK network of aid organisations, Bond, say na women and children for di most marginalised communities go pay di highest price. "E dey concerning say bilateral funding for Africa, gender, education and health programmes go drop. Di most marginalised communities for di world, particularly dose wey dey experience conflict, and women and girls, go pay di highest price for di political choices," Bond policy director Gideon Rabinowitz tok. "For dis time wen di US don stop all gender programming, di UK suppose to be stepping up, not stepping back." Di UK govment explain say di cuts follow "a line-by-line strategic review of aid" by di minister, focusing on "prioritisation, efficiency, protecting planned humanitarian support and live contracts while ensuring responsible exit from programming wia necessary". Di Foreign Office say bilateral support for some kontris go decrease and multilateral organisations wey no dey perform well go chop funding cuts. But dem neva announce di particular kontris wey go dey affected. Official UK figures show say at 0.5% of GNI, di UK aid budget by 2027 suppose be around £15.4 billion, but based on dis new target of 0.3%, di amount go be just about £6.1 billion. Wen di goment bin first make di announcement in February, some opposition members of di parliament including di Leader of di Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, bin welcome di increase for defence spending and she also support di decision to reduce di UK aid budget in order to finance it. Oda politicians like di leader of di Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, support to increase defence spending, but e say cutting di aid budget too much go "leave a vacuum for Russia and China to fill". However, Anneliese Dodds, wey be di International Development Minister dat time, resign from her position afta di decision. She say reducing aid funding fit lead to a UK pull-out from plenty African, Caribbean and Western Balkan kontris, at a time wen Russia and China dey increase dia own actions for dis kontris. Why di UK dey cut foreign aid? According to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, govment go use di money wey dem save from aid funding to increase dia defence spending to 2.5% of dia GDP by 2027 and 3% by 2030. E mean say di UK go dey spend extra £13.4 billion on defence from 2027. Anoda reason, according to di UK Trade Minister Douglas Alexander, be say di money no too dey again and di UK public no longer support too much spending on international aid. Even if moni no dey tight, you go need to make di argument for investment in foreign aid, oga Alexander tell BBC for one interview in June. "I tink we don lose dat argument at various points. We get interest to build a stable, more equal, more safe world for our future generations, but public consent don withdraw," e tok. Wetin dis go mean for Africa and which kontri go be worst hit? Di UK dey provide support in terms of aid to Africa across plenty sectors like health, education, governance, humanitarian assistance and more. Malaria No More UK, one UK charity organisation wey dey help combat malaria across Africa, say di cutting of funding go "reset di clock on di progress wey we don make in saving children lives by fighting malaria". Astrid Bonfield, wey be di oga for Malaria No More UK tok for one statement say: "We must remember say even though international aid na for abroad we dey spend am, di benefits na for home here we dey feel am because e dey make di UK safer, healthier and more prosperous." Though di goment no mention kontris wey go dey more impacted by dis cuts, but kontris wey dey experience serious crisis and climate change wahala like Sudan, South Sudan, Chad, Niger, Ethiopia, etc, fit feel di impact more. Di Nigeria govment bin sign eight partnership agreements wit di UK govment dis year wey worth about N589 billion. E neva dey clear now weda dis agreements go dey impacted by di decision to cut foreign aid funding. Oda western kontris wey don reduce aid funding Apart from di US where President Trump bin cancel more dan 80% of all programmes wey USAID bin dey carry out, France, Germany, and Sweden don also reduce dia foreign aid funding well-well between 2024 and 2025. According to Donor Tracker - one website wey dey track all foreign aids wey kontris dey give - France cut dia Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget by $1.5 billion for dia 2025 budget. Dis represent 23% decrease to compare to dia 2024 budget. Germany for dia 2025 budget also reduce di funding for dia ODA-relevant ministries by about 19.8 billion Euros. Similarly, for September last year, di Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation, Benjamin Dousa reveal say dia annual ODA allocation go drop by about $291 million 2026-2028.


The Independent
6 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
UK admits foreign aid cuts could see deaths rise – with Africa hardest hit
The government has admitted that slashing foreign aid spending will likely see global deaths rise – as it confirmed the cuts will fall disproportionately on women and girls' education and on projects across Africa. Its own assessment of the cuts' impact said: 'Any reductions to health spending risk an increase in disease burden and ultimately in deaths, impacting in particular those living in poverty, women, children and people with disabilities.' 'The world's most marginalised communities, particularly those experiencing conflict and women and girls, will pay the highest price for these political choices,' said Gideon Rabinowitz, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Bond, the UK network for international development organisations. 'At a time when the US has gutted all gender programming, the UK should be stepping up, not stepping back.' The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in its annual report published on Tuesday set out cuts of £575 million in 2025 to 2026, The government is cutting aid spending by 40 per cent in total, from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income or roughly £6 billion by 2027, meaning the deepest cuts are still to come. The report confirmed the UK will send £1.8bn to the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) - providing grants and low-interest loans to low-income countries – in part of a shift in funding towards big multi-country spending programmes including the global vaccine alliance Gavi. This means less money going from the UK directly to projects in specific countries. The African region has been disproportionately hit by cuts, while the Americas, Europe and Indo-Pacific regions all saw increases in their budgets, said Ian Mitchell, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development. "Despite making cuts of roughly half a billion pounds, it's encouraging to see that the government is prioritising multilateral spend and honouring its pledge to the World Bank. Yet, it is unfortunate that Africa – home to over two-thirds of those in extreme poverty – will receive under half of FCDO's country and regional budget,' he said. 'If the government is to achieve its manifesto mission to tackle poverty, it will need to focus its budget where poverty exists and give African countries greater priority in its subsequent allocations.' Mr Rabinowitz said while he welcomed the consistent funding for certain humanitarian crises, vaccines and the World Bank, 'it is clear that the government is deprioritising funding for education, gender and countries experiencing humanitarian crises such as South Sudan , Ethiopia and Somalia.' While the government has committed to protecting spending for Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, other crisis-hit countries significant cuts, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The plans also see a halving in spending on girls' education as well as reductions in spending on women's health, including sexual and reproductive health, and health emergencies. Leading charities have previously raised the alarm that programmes supporting girls and women would be in the firing line. The UK has been a leader in funding sexual and reproductive health including family planning, and the withdrawal of the US from funding these services has left a huge gap. It remains to be seen whether key programmes increasing access to contraception around the world like the Women's Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) initiative will be protected. While the government's own impact assessment makes it clear that, where cuts fall, they will negative impacts on equality, the report claimed overall spending demonstrated, 'disproportionate impacts on equalities have been avoided', Minister for Development Baroness Jenny Chapman said: "We are modernising our approach to international development. Every pound must work harder for UK taxpayers and the people we help around the world and these figures show how we are starting to do just that through having a clear focus and priorities. 'The UK is moving towards a new relationship with developing countries, becoming partners and investors, rather than acting as a traditional aid donor. We want to work with countries and share our expertise – from world leading science to the City of London - to help them become no longer dependent on aid, and organisations like the World Bank and Gavi are central to how we can work with others to solve some of the biggest challenges of our time: humanitarian disasters, pandemics and the climate crisis.'