trade

Analysis by Development Monitor shows that the UK exported £2.5 billion of services – such as management consulting and financial services – to Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in 2017, up from £2.0 billion in 2016. The UN defines LDCs as low-income countries that face severe impediments to sustainable development. The UK also imported £0.7bn worth of services from these countries in 2017, unchanged from 2016.

The value of UK services provided to LDCs was almost as much as the UK’s bilateral, country-specific aid spending on those countries, which amounted to £2.6bn in 2017.

Several LDCs spent more on UK services in 2017 than they received in UK bilateral aid, including:

• Afghanistan: UK service exports £241m, UK bilateral aid £227m
• Bangladesh: UK service exports £352m, UK bilateral aid £176m
• Mozambique: UK service exports £114m, UK bilateral aid £58m
• Zambia: UK service exports £72m, UK bilateral aid £53m.

The Solomon Islands spent the highest proportion of its income on UK services, worth 4.74% of their GDP in 2017, and equivalent to around half their spending on education.

On average LDCs spent a greater proportion of their national income on UK services than richer developing countries. In 2017, imports of UK services exports were on average worth:

• 0.31% of GDP for Least Developed Countries
• 0.12% of GDP for Upper Middle Income countries (such as Brazil and China)

More trends and analysis can be found on Development Monitor’s financial flows dashboard.

Development Monitor has launched a new trade dashboard which explores the UK’s trade with developing countries and shows the importance of this trade for both the UK and people in developing countries.

The dashboard supports Development Monitor’s submission to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Trade out of Poverty inquiry on Commonwealth countries and its submission to the International Trade Committee inquiry into trade with developing countries.

The dashboard helps to answer questions like:

• Which developing countries are most dependent on the UK as an export market?
• How important is trade with the UK for Commonwealth developing countries?
• What are the top developing country markets for UK goods and services exports?
• Do developing countries that have signed up to an Economic Partnership Agreement export more to the UK than those that haven’t?

If you find the dashboard useful, or have suggestions for new features, please get in contact.