Zimbabwe still Britain’s darling

Zimbabwe is still one of Britain darlings and was among the top 10 receivers of aid, according to information released in the House of Commons this week.

Zimbabwe was in ninth place just one notch above Malawi. India received the most aid followed by Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Interestingly, Zimbabwe was fourth in terms of GDP per capita among the recipients with Nigeria taking top spot followed by India and then Pakistan.

Britain and the European Union have been channeling their aid through non-governmental organisations but the EU said it will review this on 1 November.

Q & A:

Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight, Conservative)– To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the GDP is of each of the 10 countries receiving the most aid from the UK; and what the average GDP value is of all other aid recipients.

Desmond Swayne (The Minister of State, Department for International Development; New Forest West, Conservative)-The GDP of each of the 10 countries receiving the most bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the UK in 2012 and the average GDP value of all other aid recipients are shown in the table. GDP is presented both in absolute terms and per capita. GDP per capita is more widely used since it takes into account the population of each country, giving a more meaningful measure.

Country                       GDP per capita (£)      GDP (£ million)
India	                            949	                  1,173,054
Afghanistan	                    434	                  12,942
Ethiopia	                    295	                  27,014
Nigeria	                            1,718	          290,064
Bangladesh	                    473	                  73,229
Pakistan	                    792	                  141,922
Tanzania	                    384	                  17,828
Congo, Dem. Rep.	            264	                  17,325
Zimbabwe	                    574	                  7,871
Malawi	                            168	                  2,676 

It is not possible to give an average for other countries as GDP data for 2012 is not available for all countries.

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