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30/04/2013
UK To End South Africa Financial Aid
Britain is to end its direct financial support to South Africa by 2015.
The UK bilateral development programme has been in operation for over twenty years since the end of apartheid, but will now be stopped, according to International Development Secretary Justine Greening.
Speaking at an international conference of business leaders and African Ministers in London, Ms Greening claimed the change would help to boost trade across the region and support South Africa’s role as a "development partner of countries across the continent".
The aim is to create a new relationship between the UK and South Africa "based on sharing skills and knowledge, not on development funding."
The Department for International Development says the changes are a result of South Africa's "economic success".
The country now accounts for over a third of sub-Saharan Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) and is a member of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) group of emerging economies and the G20.
The UK’s bilateral programme in the country is currently worth £19m a year.
In 2003, it was worth over £40m.
The project will now focus on finishing projects that are already underway.
From 2015, the UK’s development role in South Africa will focus on technical assistance, sharing skills and knowledge in an effort to combat poverty and inequality, the Department said.
Justine Greening added: "South Africa has made enormous progress over the past two decades, to the extent that it is now the region’s economic powerhouse and Britain’s biggest trading partner in Africa.
"We are proud of the work the UK has done in partnership with the South African government, helping the country’s transition from apartheid to a flourishing, growing democracy.
"I have agreed with my South African counterparts that South Africa is now in a position to fund its own development. It is right that our relationship changes to one of mutual cooperation and trade, one that is focused on delivering benefits for the people of Britain and South Africa as well as for Africa as a whole."
(IT/CD)
The UK bilateral development programme has been in operation for over twenty years since the end of apartheid, but will now be stopped, according to International Development Secretary Justine Greening.
Speaking at an international conference of business leaders and African Ministers in London, Ms Greening claimed the change would help to boost trade across the region and support South Africa’s role as a "development partner of countries across the continent".
The aim is to create a new relationship between the UK and South Africa "based on sharing skills and knowledge, not on development funding."
The Department for International Development says the changes are a result of South Africa's "economic success".
The country now accounts for over a third of sub-Saharan Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) and is a member of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) group of emerging economies and the G20.
The UK’s bilateral programme in the country is currently worth £19m a year.
In 2003, it was worth over £40m.
The project will now focus on finishing projects that are already underway.
From 2015, the UK’s development role in South Africa will focus on technical assistance, sharing skills and knowledge in an effort to combat poverty and inequality, the Department said.
Justine Greening added: "South Africa has made enormous progress over the past two decades, to the extent that it is now the region’s economic powerhouse and Britain’s biggest trading partner in Africa.
"We are proud of the work the UK has done in partnership with the South African government, helping the country’s transition from apartheid to a flourishing, growing democracy.
"I have agreed with my South African counterparts that South Africa is now in a position to fund its own development. It is right that our relationship changes to one of mutual cooperation and trade, one that is focused on delivering benefits for the people of Britain and South Africa as well as for Africa as a whole."
(IT/CD)
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