2000 Spending Review
18 July 2000
SR2000/DfID
Major investment for international development
The UK effort to reduce world poverty received a major boost today with the announcement of an average 6.2 per cent real terms annual increase in DFID's Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) over the next three years, taking it to the highest ever level in real terms - almost £3.6 billion - by 2003-04.
The increased provision will enable the UK to remain a leading player in the global effort to meet the International Development Targets (IDTs), under which the world's governments are committed to halving the proportion of those living in extreme poverty by 2015.
Welcoming the Spending Review 2000 settlement, Clare Short, Secretary of State for International Development said:
"This is the largest UK aid budget in real terms and underlines the Government's commitment to help halve and eventually eliminate extreme poverty.
"It confirms our continuing commitment to implementing our Manifesto pledge to reverse the decline in aid spending which occurred before 1997. The Government will ensure that the oda/GNP ratio(1) will rise to 0.33 per cent by 2003-04 from 0.29 per cent in 2000-01.
"This settlement will enable us to make substantial progress towards meeting key international development targets in relation to health, primary education and provision of other basic services."
The settlement will contribute towards meeting the International Development Targets in DFID's priority countries, including:
- an average increase in primary school enrolment from a baseline of 75 per cent in 2000 to 81 per cent in 2004 in the top ten recipients of DFID educational support;
- a decrease in average under-five mortality rates from 132 in 1997 to 103 in 2004 in the top ten recipients of DFID health care assistance;
- and by 2004, relief from unsustainable debt for all heavily-indebted poor countries (HIPC) committed to poverty reduction.
Notes for editors
1. DFID will receive an increase in provisions of £54m in 2001-02, £287m in 2002-03 and £499m in 2003-04. This takes DFID's budget (Departmental Expenditure Limit - DEL) to almost £3.6 billion, the highest figure ever in real terms and 53 per cent higher in real terms than in 1997/98. The Government will ensure that the ratio of aid (using the internationally accepted definition of official development assistance) to GNP ratio will rise to 0.33 per cent by 2003/04 from 0.29 per cent in 2000-01.
| £ million | 2000/01 | 2001/02 | 2002/03 | 2003/04 |
| Total DFID Budget * | 2,760 | 3,115 | 3,348 | 3,560 |
| of which: Resource Budget | 2,459 | 2,736 | 2,939 | 3,147 |
| Capital Budget | 301 | 369 | 409 | 413 |
* Departmental Expenditure Limit
2. DFID's DEL includes additional funding for the UK's unilateral debt cancellation initiative, which will deliver 100 per cent debt relief for some of the world's poorest people.
3. The SR2000 settlement enables implementation of the recommendations of the cross-departmental review on conflict prevention, which will allow departments across Government, including DFID, to develop and implement policy in this area (see Press Notice SR2000/X3).
4. For further details please contact the DFID Press Office on 0207 917 0600. 1. Oda, or `official development assistance' is the internationally accepted definition for aid flows