Why privatising foreign aid doesn’t work Rather than triggering a surge in private sector investment, foreign aid cuts risk deterring businesses from investing in poorer nations. Alastair Grant-WPA Pool/Getty Images
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The aid budget has been hit twice this past year. The government’s decision not to meet the legally mandated spending target of 0.7 per cent of GDP (instead aiming for 0.5 per cent) has come as GDP itself undergoes a major contraction. The result has been an estimated 30 per cent cut to the aid budget just as developing countries struggle to emerge from the pandemic.