Introduction

The Commitment to Development Index, hereafter the CDI, was introduced in 2003, by the
Center for Global Development. The index quantifies and rates 22 of the world’s richest
countries based on how much their government policies facilitate development in poor countries
(CGD, 2009). The policy domains are aid, trade, investment, migration, environment, security,
and technology. A country’s overall score is the average of its seven component scores (Ibid).
Foreign Aid

2009 Rating: we agree with the score

The UK’s net ODA1 was USD 11.5 billion in 2008, 25% more than in the previous year alone.
Total ODA was equivalent to 0.43% of GNI, ranking the UK tenth amongst DAC donors for its
ODA/GNI ratio. Although it exceeds the (weighted) DAC average of 0.31% (Figure 3), it falls
short of the unweighted average ODA/GNI ratio of DAC countries – 0.48% in 2008.2

At the Gleneagles Summit, the UK committed 'to double its bilateral spending in Africa between
[the financial years] 2003/04 and 2007/08'. It also 'announced a timetable to reach 0.7%
ODA/GNI by 2013'. The UK’s commitment was made as part of the 2005 EU commitment on
development assistance, which stipulated that 50% of the increases would be directed to sub-
Saharan Africa. In 2007 the UK established annual budgetary spending plans for global ODA,
reaching £9.1 billion by 2010/11. To meet this commitment, the UK would need to increase
ODA to sub-Saharan Africa from £1.57 billion ($2.453 billion) in 2004 to £3.955 billion ($6.177
million) in 2010.

Prediction for 2010: UK’s score with respect to foreign aid will slightly increase in 2010

 2009 Global ODA: £7.329bn ($11.448bn) (0.51% of GNI excluding bilateral debt relief)
 % of commitment to Africa expected to be delivered by 2010: 93%
 It’s global ODA, net of bilateral debt relief, increased substantially by £1.21 billion
($1.89 billion) from 2008 to 2009, an increase of 20%. The UK’s global ODA increases
through 2009 have brought the country’s ODA/GNI ratio to 0.51%,7 putting it well on
track to deliver – and surpass – its global interim target in 2010.8
 In January 2010, the UK government submitted draft legislation that would enshrine the
0.7% ODA/GNI target in law. This development is positive and, if enacted, will add to
the UK’s credibility.

Provisional 2009 data suggest that the UK’s total aid expenditure reached £7.4 billion, or 0.52%
of national income, up around £1 million from £6.4 billion in 2008 (0.43% of national income).
This represents a doubling of the aid/national income ratio since 1997 (when it was 0.26%).3
The ‘gap’ between current ODA expenditure and the 0.7% target the Government has committed

1
ODA also includes debt relief.
2
Debt relief to Nigeria and Iraq contributed an unusually large component of total UK ODA in
2005 and 2006. When this is excluded, subsequent years continue to show an increasing
trend.
3
Townsend, I (2010).
to by 2013 was equivalent to just under £2.6 billion in 2009 (compared with £4.0 billion in
2008).4

The Government has maintained absolute spending commitments, and so is likely to be closer to
the 0.7% target than originally planned by the end of 2010/11.5 An ambitious projected increase
of £1.2 billion ($1.9 billion) for 2010 over the preliminary 2009 figures would, if delivered,
enable it to meet 93% of the increases it promised at Gleneagles (See paper paper on desktop). A
2010 increase of this size would be greater than its £975 million ($1.52 billion) increase between
2004 and 2009. This would put it on track to reach its target to be the first G8 country to meet
the UN goal of spending 0.7% of national income in ODA.5

In January 2010, a draft bill was published which would require the UK to spend at least 0.7% of
Gross National Income (GNI) on development aid from 2013 onwards.6

4
Townsend, I (2010:52)
5
Townsend, 52
6
Townsend, I (2010). The UK & the 0.7% aid target, and the Draft International Development (ODA Target) Bill. House of Commons. Library.
Economic Policy & Statistics Section