Category Archives: Aid

Britain to invest £50m over five years in Global Development Innovation Ventures, David Cameron reveals ahead of G8

The government is to provide a £50m fund for innovations that can save lives in the world’s poorest countries.

Speaking on Friday ahead of next week’s UK-hosted G8 summit in Northern Ireland, David Cameron will say the fund would enable entrepreneurs, academics and NGOs to secure financial backing for solutions to the most pressing problems facing the developing world.

Britain will invest £50m over five years in Global Development Innovation Ventures, which is expected to unlock further investment from the private sector and other governments.

Justine Greening, the international development secretary, said: “Britain has already supported groundbreaking technology around the world, from mobile banking in Kenya to GPS weather-warning systems in Bangladesh. We need a model that can build on these successes and make sure great ideas that can change the lives of the world’s poorest people get the investment they need.”

The government believes that the UK aid budget, which will hit the UN target of 0.7% of national income this year, should be used to promote private sector advances in developing countries. Greening, who is looking at ways of giving her department a sharper entrepreneurial focus, said: “This new organisation means that the UK will play a key role in ushering in a new era of innovative, cost-effective development which can help deliver a safer, more prosperous world.”

Cameron’s announcement comes as the International Monetary Fund said it has struck an agreement with Zimbabwe – the first in 10 years – that could pave the way for international debt relief. The IMF has approved a “staff monitored programme” for April to December this year, which the Harare government has signed up to. It includes a range of reforms, including restructuring the central bank and increasing the transparency of revenues from diamond mining.

Successful completion of the programme would be “an important stepping stone toward helping Zimbabwe re-engage with the international community”, the IMF said. It is also recognised as the first step towards a country being granted debt relief under the multilateral Heavily Indebted Poor Country initiative, overseen by the IMF and World Bank. Zimbabwe is deep in arrears on its $7bn (£4.5bn) of international debt.

Tim Jones of the Jubilee Debt Campaign said: “Zimbabweans need a debt audit to examine where the debt came from and how to prevent a debt crisis arising again. The IMF has no legitimacy to force economic policies on Zimbabwe.”

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