Foreign aid 'rushed out to meet the PM's target': Report claims ministers splurged almost £100million a day * Commons International Development Committee warns sums appear to have been 'rushed out at the end of the year' * Foreign aid spending target is 0.7 per cent of Britain's total income * Department for International Development spent 25% of budget in a month * Report accuses ministers of spending too much on ‘middle income’ countries such as Nigeria, Pakistan and India
By JASON GROVES
PUBLISHED: 23:21 GMT, 29 April 2014 | UPDATED: 07:13 GMT, 30 April 2014 * * * * *
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Ministers splurged almost £100million a day on foreign aid in December in a frantic bid to hit David Cameron’s controversial spending target, a report claims.
The Commons International Development Committee warns today that vast sums appear to have been ‘rushed out at the end of the year’ to meet the target of spending 0.7 per cent of Britain’s total income on foreign aid.
The committee says it is astonishing that the Department for International Development (DfID) spent a quarter of its total budget in one month and calls on ministers to show that the spending was ‘rational and cost-effective’.

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Spending: Ministers splurged almost £100million a day on foreign aid in December in a frantic bid to hit David Cameron¿s controversial spending target, a report claims

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Support: The report also accuses ministers of spending too much on 'middle income' countries such as Nigeria, Pakistan (pictured) and India
The report also accuses ministers of spending too much on ‘middle income’ countries such as Nigeria, Pakistan and India, which have the resources to help themselves, rather than focusing aid on the world’s poorest. More... * Police watch as hundreds of pro-Russian demonstrators seize control of government HQ in eastern Ukraine... following Kremlin promise it WON'T invade * Time to surrender in the 'futile' war on drugs, Tory modernisers tell Cameron in attempt to lift party's appeal to young voters * 'Britain is coming back': Osborne hails 0.8% growth as figures show the economy is firing on all cylinders
MPs in the committee also warned that Britain is shouldering too much of the burden of cleaning up global humanitarian disasters. Britain’s spending on Syria, for example, has hit £600million, compared to just £10million spent by France.
Aid spending averaged £560million a month for the first ten months of last year. It then doubled in November to more than £1.1billion, before soaring to £2.6billion in December as the deadline for hitting the target neared.

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Cost: Britain's spending on Syria, for example, has hit £600million, compared to just £10million spent by France
Britain’s foreign aid spend is now more than double the G8 average. The US spends 0.19 per cent of its total income on foreign aid, for France it is 0.45 per cent and Italy is at just 0.13 per cent.
Last night, a DfID spokesman denied it had struggled to spend its budget, saying the high spending in December resulted mainly from ‘several long-planned annual contributions to agencies like the World Bank and EU’.
The spokesman added: ‘DfID constantly assesses where UK aid has the biggest impact to ensure it helps those who really need it.’
Britain spent £11.4billion on foreign aid last year.

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