The United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office remains one of the world’s largest aid contributors. However, the department’s budget has been on a downward trend. For the fiscal year ending March 2023, it was expected to spend £7.6 billion ($9.5 billion), compared to £8.3 billion the year before.
The decrease in FCDO spending began in 2021 when it was driven by a cut in overall spending from 0.7% of gross national income to 0.5%. In the subsequent period, the drop was caused primarily by increased spending on in-donor refugee costs, which meant cash was diverted from FCDO to another department, the Home Office.
Devex looks into the contracts awarded in 2022/2023 to see where FCDO spent its money and what its priorities were.