Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to provide finance to (a) low- and (b) middle-income countries.

As set out in the recently published International Development Strategy, we will allocate aid where it is most needed and effective, use aid to bring in more money to development, and amplify this with the ideas that cost little but go far.

The majority of our Official Development Assistance (ODA) will be channelled towards low-income countries where there is a clear commitment to progress. These countries are the least able to finance their development through taxes, borrowing or investment. We will continue to support the global goal of providing at least 0.2% of our Gross National Income (GNI) to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

We will work more with Middle-Income Countries (MICs) who are central to the achievement of global commitments. In these contexts, we will bring together investment, trade, expertise, technology, science and diplomacy to drive long term reform and change, working in partnership with host governments and citizens. We will draw on ODA only as necessary in MICs.