About: aid budget
Only inequality-busting aid will help end poverty
The amount of aid matters, but so does how and where it is spent. Development aid must be focused on reducing the inequality that drives poverty, writes Julie Seghers.
Europe needs a partnership policy with the South and the East
A window of opportunity has opened for European policy since growth rates rebounded. But whether growth will continue for a time long enough for reducing the fiscal burden, unemployment and inequality depends on strategy changes, write Karl Aiginger and Heinz Handler.
Wishful thinking underpins the EU’s new Africa plan
There has been a significant mood change among European policymakers. Far from seeing Africa as a charity case, they have come to recognise it as a security threat: doing more to develop Africa's ailing economies is rising fast up the EU agenda, writes Giles Merritt.
UK foreign aid diluted by ‘pursuing national interest’, says think tank
Poverty reduction in the world’s poorest countries risks being diluted by the UK government’s increasing tendency to devote a bigger slice of Britain’s aid budget to pursuing the national interest, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned.
UK overseas aid budget fraud levels do not seem credible, watchdog says
The UK government’s claims of low levels of fraud in Britain’s overseas aid budget do not seem credible given mounting evidence of missing money, the House of Commons financial watchdog has said.
UK’s May promises to keep 0.7% aid spend target if she wins election
British Prime Minister Theresa May promised Friday (21 April) to keep the UK’s aid spending at 0.7% of GDP if – as appears likely – her ruling Conservative party win the upcoming snap election.
UK doubles funding to fight tropical diseases in developing world
The UK has pledged to double the funding it gives to fighting neglected tropical diseases, in a move that will protect more than 200 million people around the world from debilitating and painful conditions.
Brexit ‘may mean huge loss for EU as global donor’, Parliament report warns
EXCLUSIVE/ Britain’s departure from the EU will challenge the bloc’s role as the world leading aid donor, and could see EU aid shrink by up to 3%, according to an authoritative new study by the European Parliament.
Attacks on UK aid budget are ‘fake news’, says Miliband
The President of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, has condemned British media attacks on the UK’s aid budget as “fake news”.
Wealthy countries further cannibalise development budgets to host refugees
Faced with what promises to be a long-term migration crisis, more and more donor countries are using their development budgets to fund their domestic asylum policies, a trend that is set to become increasingly the norm. EURACTIV France reports.
Brexit could cost poorest countries €378m a year, warn economists
The world’s poorest countries could lose more than €378m per year if their existing trade agreements with the UK market are not maintained in the event of Brexit, a new series of essays published by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the UK Trade Policy Observatory has warned.
UK not doing enough for conflict-stricken northern Nigeria, report warns
Britain is not doing enough to help northern Nigeria, where millions of people have had their lives ruined by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram, according to a report by the UK parliament.
NGOs criticise accounting ‘loopholes’ behind apparent rise in foreign aid
Campaigning groups have blamed ‘accounting loopholes’ behind an apparent increase in global development aid, saying much of the extra money ended up being spent at home by rich countries.
EU: Supporting the Ethiopian people now, and over the long term
Ethiopia is being hit hard by one the most severe El Niño phenomenon on record. Numbers speak for themselves – in the past year, the number of food insecure people has increased from 2.9 million to over 10 million at present, write Neven Mimica and Christos Stylianides.
EU needs ‘radical rethink’ of foreign aid in 2016
These are challenging times for policy makers, as global security risks become ever more complex. The tragic events of 2015 show how the challenges of poverty and development need to be tackled together, write James Mackie and Rhys Williams.
Aid cuts undermine French COP 21 position
Cuts to the French development aid budget are jeopardising its COP 21 commitments. For Jean-Claude Juncker, cutbacks from member states are "unacceptable". EURACTIV France reports.
EU donors ‘profiting from aid budgets’ with high-interest loans
European donors have been accused of profiting from their aid budgets, as an increasing amount of their money for the world's poorest countries is being given as loans – which have to be paid back with interest.
Infographic: EU states’ aid pledge nears breaking point
In 2005, EU ministers pledged to spend 0.7% of member states' Gross National Incomes on overseas development aid by 2015, keeping in line with the UN Millennium Development Goals. But new analysis of the latest figures shows that when genuinely new aid is counted, EU states are barely meeting half of that commitment. Fifteen months remain to change the picture.
EU falters with UN targets as development aid drops 4.3%
Brussels has called on member states to honour their aid commitments as their contributions to the world’s poorest countries fell by €2.3 billion in 2012, according to an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report published yesterday (3 April).Spain can be a trailblazer in this new age of aid austerity
Spain's aid budget may be contracting sharply, but with greater craft and focus it can demonstrate that money isn't everything, writes Jonathan Glennie.