UK billions for corrupt countries as aid budget targets 'fragile states'

'We'll stop throwing money at problems': International development secretary Andrew Mitchell

Britain is to pour billions of pounds of aid into the world’s most corrupt countries in a bid to tackle poverty, terrorism and illegal immigration.
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell yesterday announced the results of a review of the aid budget – and revealed future funding will be focused on helping so-called ‘fragile states’.
But the beneficiaries will include many of the world’s most corrupt countries, raising fears that much of the money may never reach those it is intended for.
The biggest single recipient will be the failed African state of Somalia, which has been riven by civil war for years and is rated as the most corrupt nation on earth.
British aid to Somalia will soar by 207 per cent to £250million over the next four years, despite the state not having had a functioning government for two decades.
Other winners include Burma, ranked as the world’s second most corrupt regime, which will see its funding rise by 81 per cent to £185million over the same period, and Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, which will receive a 36 per cent increase in funding from the UK, receiving £353million over four years.
Yemen, which many observers describe as a failed state, will benefit from an 80 per cent increase to £305million.
Pakistan, which is blighted by corruption, will be given a 112 per cent increase and is on course to become the biggest single recipient of British aid, receiving £446million a year from taxpayers by 2015.


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