Use foreign exchange reserves to maintain overseas aid, Starmer urged

The government is being urged to consider leaning on Britain’s £150 billion foreign exchange reserves to prevent deep cuts in overseas aid to low-income countries threatened by the withdrawal of US funding.

A group of Labour MPs wants the government to maintain its commitment of nearly £2 billion to the World Bank’s International Development Association, a facility for poor countries, which is in the line of fire as the UK cuts its foreign aid budget.

The MPs, who include Alice Macdonald and Joe Powell, will write to Sir Keir Starmer asking the government to use the UK’s Exchange Equalisation Account, a vast stock of foreign exchange reserves worth £150 billion, to offer low-interest loans to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries.

The exchange, which

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