Moves to help poorer nations win investment from British businesses and financiers are under way as the UK’s aid spending strategy is overhauled. Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, said yesterday that her department would witness a “big shift” in how its £13.9 billion budget was distributed. Speaking in Lancaster House, she outlined how Britain would try to help developing countries build resilience and growth through long-term investment in their markets. Her defence of the ringfenced aid budget, which is 0.7 per cent of gross national income, came as critics called for it to be slashed and for more cash to go towards health, defence and other departments. Whitehall insiders say that the spending strategy is being enacted in Kenya and Ethiopia before it is…

Source: The Times April 12, 2018 15:56 UTC