Commenting on the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee report on foreign aid, Professor Philip Booth, Editorial and Programme Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:
"The Committee is right to criticise the government’s adoption in law of an arbitrary target for foreign aid set 40 years ago. Foreign aid has a poor record and, given this record, the government should not be increasing the aid budget in the way that it is.
"There may be a place for some aid programmes targeted at clear objectives – such as vaccination programmes. However, badly managed aid is dangerous in that it can encourage corruption and finance conflict. The House of Lords report is an excellent balanced report and a fine antidote to the ideologically-driven programme of the coalition government."
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