Foreign aid: Gates and others to partially cover UK aid cuts

A group of philanthropists, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, are to provide £93.5m emergency funding to cover some UK foreign aid cuts.

They said the temporary funding would help save “critical projects” and ensure progress was not “wasted”.

The government has decided to reduce this year’s spending on overseas aid from 0.7% of national income to 0.5%. It said the financial impact of the pandemic had forced ministers to take “tough but necessary decisions”.