Overseas Aid

Top ten recipients for United Kingdom aid in 2009/2010:

1. India £295m
2. Ethiopia £214m
3. Bangladesh £149m
4. Sudan £146m
5. Tanzania £144m
6. Pakistan £140m
7. Afghanistan £133m
8. Nigeria £114m
9. Congo £109m
10. Ghana £90m

What is the current ‘foreign aid’ spend for the United Kingdom?

Quick figures I’ve found indicate ‘£11.5 billion over the next four years’. Or about ‘0.7% of GDP in 2013’?

Those aren’t insignificant figures considering that, for example, the EU guideline on government deficits is (or was) 3% of GDP.

Those figures don’t look right; is £2.875 billion (per year) really 0.7% of GDP?

I still think the £295 million to India is a ‘piffling small amount’ but it begs the question as to where the rest goes; and I’m not sure I agree with the increase or ‘ring-fencing’ at the current time.

I’m in two minds about this one.

I can imagine the day, when we will go Cap In Hand, and ask THEM for aid.

Maybe India will remember the aid we gave them in the past if that is the case! :diablo:

I take your point Warren, but we are talking about, three of the fastest growing economies in the world., ie, India is the largest buyer of GOLD in the world, yet we still support them with aid. I can imagine the day, when we will go Cap In Hand, and ask THEM for aid.I wish I could afford a Jag, most of which are sold outside the U.K.

Jim.
Lincoln .7

…it would be nice if we could see our way to a brighter future for us all.

Maybe that’s just what those ‘wasted’ millions have been doing? 😉

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18250315

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21662673

trumper.
Gary, I would like to see OUR money invested in paying off our debts.
Unless you are very lucky, we are all feeling the pinch at the moment, and it would be nice if we could see our way to a brighter future for us all.
We all have a “Pipedream”, guess this is mine, and many others.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

So are we talking about money for a moral aid or the same money for an “investment” towards future business and income?

Lincoln you do realise that the ‘aid’ sent to India was nothing to do with genuine philanthropy or generosity on the part of any colour of UK Govt for more than a decade dont you?. Its very simply been a sweetener to help keep, according to the FCO, more Indian investment flowing into the UK than to the rest of the EC combined.

With the ‘simple’ route to just chuck a modest sum (in budgetary terms) at them now shut down we’re now planning to take time and effort identifying joint development targets with Indian Govt and are actually going to have to get results from 2015 onwards. So what was easy and, from our standpoint, pretty cost-effective skids-greasing is now something which will take effort and oversight!.

The words ‘own goal’ come to mind!.

…do you think we should stop Overseas Aid…

No. ‘BIG ISSUE’…..piffling small amount! :rolleyes:

If so, where would you like to see the money spent here?

If I had to, I’d spend the lot on preservation of our history; tourism is the third biggest industry in the United Kingdom. 😉

trumper.
Gary, I agree, but where and to what organisations here in the U.K. would you suggest?.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

It certainly would’nt go into the pockets of those that would blow it on booze ,fags and drink and drugs.
I would send it to organisations that can assist people in a practical way,in a proveable transparent manner,not into the pockets of directors etc.
I am a believer that if someone is genuine and wantas to help themself then they should be given all the help they can get.I don’t believe in just handing out cash.

I think what you are referring to was when the President of India, told Cameron(?) that they were so wealthy, that they didn’t need the xxx number of Millions we give them each year, however, they didn’t refuse it :rolleyes:
And we are tied in to keep giving it to them for the next few years.
When will we ever learn?. :rolleyes:
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Not so, Lincoln..

“
The UK will stop all financial aid to India from 2015 and make no new commitments, marking a turning point in relations between the countries almost 70 years after India became independent.
Justine Greening, international development secretary, announced on Friday that all financial assistance from the UK to India would end from 2015 and Britain would spend about £200m less from 2013 to 2015. British aid to India was frozen in March last year at £280m a year until the end of the parliament.”

trumper.
Gary, I agree, but where and to what organisations here in the U.K. would you suggest?.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

I have always thought that the so called overseas aid never reaches the people it is mean’t to help.
Money should never be sent to countries that have dictators,wealth of their own in natural resources they could use .
Charity begins at home but even then i would be careful where it goes.

I think what you are referring to was when the President of India, told Cameron(?) that they were so wealthy, that they didn’t need the xxx number of Millions we give them each year, however, they didn’t refuse it :rolleyes:
And we are tied in to keep giving it to them for the next few years.
When will we ever learn?. :rolleyes:
Jim.
Lincoln .7

I think this was debated on another thread a few weeks ago but the answer is of course a big yes. Aid should be heavily restricted and monitored. How what is saved should be spent is a complex question because savings should be made elsewhere before any redistribution is calculated. But in my view all savings should be used to reduce the deficit and ultimately the debt, and not spent elsewhere.