Overseas Aid

 Taxpayers have been funding development projects in parts of the world that are richer than some areas of the UK, a report claims.

The study by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) found that, over the last five years, British overseas development assistance had been spent in wealthy areas of China, Mexico and Malaysia.

Some of the money was spent after a decision by the previous government to reduce Britain's overseas aid budget from 0.7 per cent of GDP, which resulted in big cuts to aid budgets in countries such as Yemen, Syria and Somalia.

The IEA described the spending as "Robin Hood in reverse" and said that the government needed to "urgently re-evaluate our aid priorities".

The Bund at Shanghai
Chinese School
Photo Credit: World Museum Liverpool [CC BY-NC] 

Among the funding identified by the think tank was a £200,000 project in Shanghai funded by the Department of Business to "foster creativity in Chinese communities". The British Council also funded a £200,000 project to reintroduce traditional Shanghai all-female Yue opera to modern urban audiences through digital media.

The IEA said that Shanghai had a GDP per capita of £19,520, which was comparable to Redbridge and Waltham Forest, London which has a GDP per capita of £20,572. It also identified a project in Malaysia funded by the government quango Innovate UK. It spent £244,061 on a project to alleviate traffic congestion in Kuala Lumpur by improving the use of public transport...

The paper claimed that civil servants and aid-workers could be drawn to spending money in developed countries because these places have better infrastructure, higher living standards and established professional networks. It said that aid can end up going to areas that are relatively well-off rather than to the poorest regions that need help.

Mark Tovey, the paper's author, said the government urgently needed to reassess its priorities. 

Jambyang (Manjushri)
unknown artist
Photo Credit: National Museum of Scotland [CC  BY-NC-ND]

He said: "Taxing hardworking people in left-behind Britain to fund projects in affluent regions abroad is a policy of Robin Hood in reverse, with aid money going to prosperous areas like Ordos in China or Campeche in Mexico - both of which are actually richer than large parts of the UK.

"We urgently need to re-evaluate our aid-priorities to ensure that UK taxpayers' money supports the world's poorest, focusing on stamping out infectious diseases, ending hunger and genuinely lifting those in desperate need out of poverty."

(Oliver Wright, The Times, 2024)

On the face of it, providing overseas aid to relatively well-off countries at the expense of those in the poorest countries would seem to be bizarre. Reducing traffic congestion,  fostering creativity and re-introducing Yue opera to urban audiences, worthy though they might be, are not in the same league as curing disease or feeding the  hungry.