July 12, 2021- 11:00 a.m.
Bill Gates is among a group of wealthy philanthropists who have pledged to donate money to plug some of the deficit left from the UK’s government’s foreign aid cuts. So how much is being pledged?
Earlier this year, the UK government announced it would reduce overseas aid spending from 0.7 percent to 0.5 percent of national income. The coronavirus pandemic has been blamed for the need for this drop of approximately £4.5 billion, with the government said it was forced to make “tough but necessary decisions”.
To fill the gap left by the cuts, a group of ultra-wealthy philanthropists have pledged money.
This group includes the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the ELMA Foundation and Open Society Foundations.
In total, the group will be pledging around £93.5 million, though the individual donations are not known.
