Statement
My Noble Friend the Minister of State for International Development, Latin America and Caribbean (The Rt Hon Baroness Chapman of Darlington) has today made the following statement:
The FCDO’s Annual Report & Accounts 2024-25, published today, reports that in 2024, on a provisional basis, the United Kingdom did not meet its target to spend the equivalent of 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance (ODA).
The International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015 (“the 2015 Act”) envisages situations in which a departure from meeting the target of spending 0.7 per cent of GNI on ODA may be necessary, including due to economic circumstances, fiscal circumstances and circumstances arising outside the UK. The fiscal circumstances did not allow for ODA spending to be returned to 0.7 per cent of GNI in 2024.
This Government is committed to restoring ODA spending at the level of 0.7 per cent of GNI as soon as fiscal circumstances allow. The principles for a return will be met when, on a sustainable basis, the Government is not borrowing for day-to-day spending and underlying debt is falling. We will monitor future forecasts closely against these tests. The latest forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility indicates that the tests will not be met in this Parliament. The Government is working hard to create the conditions to enable the ODA fiscal tests to be met by prioritising growth – stronger growth will help in time to get underlying debt down.
As required by section 2 of the 2015 Act, an Unnumbered Act Paper has been laid before Parliament and is in the same terms as this statement.
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This statement has also been made in the House of Lords