Inflation has devalued the island’s International Development Budget by a fifth since 2018, the Cabinet Office Minister has revealed.
The budget has remained fixed at £2.5m since 2018, with inflation dropping its value by 20%, up to 2024.
Paul Craine MLC asked David Ashford how much the fund has fallen by and how many years the full amount hasn’t been spent.
Mr Ashford said that between 2018 and 2024, two years saw marginal underspends which came about as a result of individual project funding requests within various funding streams falling slightly below the amounts allocated to them.
He added: “Additionally, two years were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic during which International Development funding was suspended until after the publication of the Island’s Budget in July 2020 – although the second year of ongoing Small Grants projects were funded.
“The percentage underspend for 2023/24 was anomalously higher and measures are being reviewed to include the allocated funds within future spending to meet International Development targets across the lifetime of the administration.”
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