In forthright evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into Britain’s rapidly-growing aid budget, Adam Smith International (ASI), which runs Government reform projects around the world and is a major contractor of the Department, said it is ‘concerned’ at how a growing volume of British aid is being ‘pushed’ into the hands of wasteful third parties as ministers seek to hit the government’s target of spending 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on foreign aid. But ASI warned this represented a ‘false economy’ in helping the world’s poorest people as the global bodies are far less efficient and have higher administrative costs than projects run directly by Britain. It highlighted the World Bank’s $350 million (£227 million) programme in Afghanistan, towards which Britain has given some £300,000. Just 38 per cent of the project’s money has been released after three years, amid corruption and chaos under the former president, Hamid Karzai.