LONDON: The UK will boost its bilateral overseas aid in 2024-25 following a “terrible hit” in the last three years, Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell told The Guardian on Monday.

Mitchell said that the overall aid budget — which includes both multilateral and bilateral aid — will increase from £7.4 billion ($9.68 billion) this fiscal year to £8.3 billion next year. It was £6.9 billion in 2022-23.

According to official Foreign Office estimates, bilateral aid cash to low-income countries will greatly increase in 2024-25, as will bilateral aid to Africa as a region, going up from £646 million this fiscal year to £1.36 billion next. Mitchell added that he would budget for £1 billion in humanitarian aid.

The minister said bilateral spending will take an “enormous hit” in 2023-24 in order to meet the government’s multilateral aid commitments, The Guardian reported.

However, he said he was confident the projections for the coming period were reliable, reflecting economic growth, better budget management and expected cuts to the costs incurred by the Home Office of housing refugees arriving in the UK.  

This would allow bilateral funding to Afghanistan to increase from £100 million to £151 million next year, while remaining below the £246 million in 2022-23. Aid to flood-hit Pakistan will increase from £41 million to £133 million.

The UK is also expected to boost funding for Ethiopia, from £89 million to £214 million; Somalia, from £90 million to £138 million; and South Sudan, from £47.9 million to £111 million, The Guardian reported.

Mitchell said that he plans to publish a white paper in the autumn to obtain cross-party support to revitalize British thinking on climate change and Sustainable Development Goals. 

He expressed optimism that it would help to calm some countries’ outrage over the amount of money being sent to Ukraine by the West.

He told The Guardian: “They see the rich world spending money on humanitarian needs in Ukraine when children are dying in the Horn of Africa, and they resent that.”