UK To Slash Foreign Aid Budget Amid Coronavirus Crisis

British government has announced plans to slash its foreign aid budget as parts of efforts to sustain its finances which has been severely affected by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, on Wednesday, said “sticking rigidly” to spending 0.7 percent of gross national income on overseas aid was “difficult to justify to the British people” at a time of fiscal crisis.

Read also: Trump Woos Farmers With Promise Of $14 Billion In Pandemic Aid

AFP reports that he told the British parliament the aid budget would be reduced temporarily to 0.5 percent of GNI, and return to 0.7 percent “when the fiscal situation allows”.

Plans to cut the foreign aid had been rumoured for weeks and Sunak pressed ahead with the move, despite fierce opposition from charity groups and top politicians – including former prime ministers, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton.

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