BRITISH taxpayers are forking out millions of pounds in foreign aid to the world’s wealthiest countries.

New figures Sunday show more than £4million has been given to the US since 2016 to help bankroll cyber security, financial services, and projects in ‘smart cities’ such as Boston.

Staggering figures obtained by the Mail show that a total of £11million of public money went to rich nations, including several that are wealthier than Britain.

Japan, where the gross domestic product (GDP) is nearly twice that of the UK, received almost £500,000 which has helped fund projects that “support Tokyo’s development as a global financial centre”.

South Korea, Portugal and New Zealand have also benefited from the Prosperity Fund, a Whitehall initiative set up in 2016 to hand out £1.3billion around the world.

Tory MP Nigel Evans, who sits on the International Development Committee, said: “This sounds hugely dubious.

“This is money that could be easily spent on projects in Britain and it seems to me incredibly questionable that so much money is being used for this purpose.”

A Foreign Office spokesman said last night: “The Prosperity Fund has a non-aid component to help generate opportunities for UK businesses in both mature and emerging markets.

“An example of this includes a showcase event in Brazil that helped UK energy companies secure contracts worth over £50million, and promotional activities in the US that contributed to a £56million export win.”

He added that the FCO did not know whether Britain received funds from other countries under similar reciprocal arrangements.