Euan Ritchie writes for Center for Global Development: After deciding that the UK can only afford to spend around £10 billion in aid as a result of “difficult fiscal circumstances,” the UK Treasury is reportedly proposing further cuts to aid programmes solely to accommodate some unusual accounting items under the 0.5 aid percent target: the use of UK’s allocation of new Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and debt relief on export credits extended to Sudan decades ago. These items do not adversely affect the UK’s fiscal position, and do not change the return on aid programmes, and so there is no economic or fiscal reason for them to lead to further cuts. Yet further cuts—potentially as much as £2 billion in 2022—would happen if the Treasury insisted on counting these items towards the target.
go to Center for Global Development: Why the UK Treasury’s Obsession with Targets Is Damaging for Development | Center For Global Development (cgdev.org)
