UK aid budget gets de facto $800 million cut for 2022

The United Kingdom’s aid budget is to be effectively cut by £580 million ($800 million) in 2022, after it was revealed that canceling debt owed by Sudan will count toward the nation’s reduced target of spending 0.5% of national income on aid.

In a move met with grave condemnation from development experts, a total of £861 million will be deducted from U.K. government aid spending to charge for Sudanese debt relief, according to a freedom of information request by the Jubilee Debt Campaign. Total U.K. aid spending is expected to be £10.9 billion in 2021.

In a move met with grave condemnation from development experts, a total of £861 million will be deducted from U.K. government aid spending to charge for Sudanese debt relief, according to a freedom of information request by the Jubilee Debt Campaign. Total U.K. aid spending is expected to be £10.9 billion in 2021.

The move is in line with aid spending rules but showed the U.K. risked becoming “a country that manipulates [international] rules to reduce its support for its poorest partners in the face of the worst economic crisis in a lifetime,” according to Ian Mitchell, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development.

The move “confirms our worst fears of the Treasury’s intentions towards the aid budget,” echoed Ranil Dissanayake, a policy fellow at CGD. Both he and Mitchell sounded the alarm last month on the prospect of further U.K. aid cuts, highlighting Sudanese debt relief as just one accounting item that could be charged against the aid budget at the cost of real spending. Dissanayake added that damage to the aid budget could turn out worse than he predicted in September.

In a move met with grave condemnation from development experts, a total of £861 million will be deducted from U.K. government aid spending to charge for Sudanese debt relief, according to a freedom of information request by the Jubilee Debt Campaign. Total U.K. aid spending is expected to be £10.9 billion in 2021.

The move is in line with aid spending rules but showed the U.K. risked becoming “a country that manipulates [international] rules to reduce its support for its poorest partners in the face of the worst economic crisis in a lifetime,” according to Ian Mitchell, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development.

The move “confirms our worst fears of the Treasury’s intentions towards the aid budget,” echoed Ranil Dissanayake, a policy fellow at CGD. Both he and Mitchell sounded the alarm last month on the prospect of further U.K. aid cuts, highlighting Sudanese debt relief as just one accounting item that could be charged against the aid budget at the cost of real spending. Dissanayake added that damage to the aid budget could turn out worse than he predicted in September.


A U.K. Treasury response to the FOI, seen by Devex, confirmed that the U.K. would cancel Sudan’s bilateral debt and that, “this will be cancelled in two tranches: £580m in 2022 as a result of HIPC [Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative] Decision Point and the remainder at HIPC Completion Point, the date for which is yet to be confirmed.”