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Development Aid

Asked by Nadia WhittomeLabourTreasuryTabled Answered 13 January 2025UIN 22370

The question

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the overseas development assistance budget to 0.7% of gross national income without applying a fiscal test.

Answered by Darren Jones

The Government remains committed to international development. This is why we allocated £13.3 billion to ODA in 2024/25 and £13.7 billion in 2025/26 at Autumn Budget 2024. We will restore Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending to the level of 0.7 percent of GNI as soon as the fiscal circumstances allow, but this isn’t currently affordable. The government will continue to monitor future forecasts closely, and each year will review and confirm, in accordance with the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015, whether a return to spending 0.7% of GNI on ODA is possible against the latest fiscal forecast.

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