A British-led scheme to borrow on capital markets to fund a multi-million dollar immunisation programme for poor countries has been given the go-ahead by the European Union's statistical authority.

Pledges to the International Finance Facility for Immunisation, which aims to raise an extra $4bn (€3.3bn, £2.25bn) over 10 years for children's vaccines in the developing world, would not be classed as government debt, Eurostat has ruled.