From the article: AT THE Tory party conference in Manchester, David Cameron proudly touted his promise to spend 0.7% of national income on foreign aid. Overseas aid has been a feature of Mr Cameron’s conference speeches since 2010. Yet a growing economy and shrinking public spending elsewhere means a rising share of government spending goes on aid, to the annoyance of other cash-strapped departments. Since 2010, the aid budget has risen by 40%. Only America disburses more. Has the money been spent well?
The increased budget has been a boon for multilateral organisations. Some 62% of Department for International Development (DFID) spending now goes to such bodies, up from 56% in 2009. They are a useful way to spend money fast. But they are also good at operating on a large scale and are insulated from short-term political considerations. Getting multilateral organisations to hand out money frees DFID staff to focus on policy improvements, says Owen Barder, of the Centre for Global Development, a think-tank. And although some are not as effective as DFID, others are more so. The World Bank’s development arm, the International Development Association (IDA), where 24% of British multilateral aid goes, “is probably the best aid agency in the world,” says Mr Barder.
Read full article here.
