The UK Government have taken various steps through different channels to mitigate the adverse effects of the economic crisis on developing countries. These include:
Taking the appropriate steps to restore growth at home which will reinvigorate trade and financial flows to developing countries;
Acting through multilateral agencies such as the World Bank and IMF to provide timely and effective assistance; and
Providing support directly through our bilateral programmes.
Through its leadership, the UK was instrumental in the announcements made at the London Summit to increase the resources of the IMF including the extension of special drawing rights (SDRs) which will provide vital assistance to developing countries facing short-term balance-of-payments problems. In total, an additional $50 billion was made available to low income countries (LICs).
In March this year, DFID pledged £200 million towards the rapid social response fund to be administrated by the World Bank providing immediate help to meet the daily needs of the poorest people in the poorest countries in the economic downturn.
DFID continues to work closely with our development partners and international financial institutions to ensure that developing countries are provided with timely and effective assistance—e.g. capital increases for the Asian Development Bank; reforms to the exogenous shock facility (ESF).
DFID will be spending more on its bilateral programmes than ever before—2009-10 budget is £2.6 billion. We remain committed to achieving the target of 0.7 per cent. of gross national income (GNI) devoted to official development assistance (ODA) by 2013.
Country programmes are designed to be flexible to respond to changing needs. Where appropriate, existing scheduled country programme spend has been adjusted accordingly.