Financial flows compared

For each £ of aid spending, how big are other financial flows between the UK and developing countries? Five countries which are significant recipients of UK aid are compared below.

The financial flows above cannot be aggregated to show whether there is a net transfer of resources between the UK and each developing country because there are inherent differences between flows. Some flows are simply transfers (e.g. remittances), whilst others are commercial and associated with a corresponding transfer of resources (e.g. traded goods or acquisition of equity in a foreign subsidiary). In addition, data on certain flows, such as illicit finance, is unavailable.