Friday, November 9, 2012

Britain Says No More Indian Aid


Britain announced it'll be stopping financial aid to India by the year 2015, as British domestic opposition has grown in light of economic struggles at home, while India continues to grow rapidly.

British International Development Secretary Justine Greening said this, "It's time to recognise India's changing place in the world."

Savings by the cut off date will amount to about GBP 200 million. At that time Britain will no longer make any financial commitments to India.

When taking into account the fact that India has offered a credit line of $5 billion to Africa, it does make one wonder why Britain continues to put aid into the country, especially when its contribution is so small.

This is of course a political decision, one that British officials should have made once the economy started to come under stress several years ago. But since there were some existing promises and obligations, the country did have to work through them before shutting aid off completely.

Interestingly, India is now the third-largest investor in Britain, confirming the fact that economic aid to them from the British is the product of a day long gone.