David Cameron has insisted the UK will fulfil its promise "to the poorest people of the world" on providing aid.
Conservative backbenchers are expected to try to block a bill later that commits the UK to spending 0.7% of national income on international aid.
The prime minister said actually meeting the target was "much more important" than passing a law on it.
New figures suggest that over two years the UK will have to spend a billion pounds more than originally planned.
The aid pledge was in both the Lib Dem and Conservative general election manifestos and was part of the 2010 coalition agreement.
Lib Dem ex-cabinet minister Michael Moore's International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill aims to make it a legal requirement, and will be debated on Friday.
But critics, led by Tory MPs Philip Davies and Jacob-Rees Mogg, have tabled a host of long amendments which could see the Commons run out of time to debate and vote on the bill.
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Michael Moore says UK international aid "saves lives and transforms lives" as he calls to enshrine the pledge in law
Mr Cameron said: "We will continue to meet the promise that we made to the poorest people of the world that we would make this aid pledge and meet this aid pledge and we've done that.
"But I think the meeting of it is much more important than the legislation about it. It is a private member's bill but nonetheless there will be support for that bill which I'm confident will probably go ahead."
'Increasingly unaffordable'End Quote David Cameron Prime ministerThe aid payments that we make... is an important part of keeping us safe and secure in the United Kingdom"
The Financial Times reported calculations by the Office for Budget Responsibility that found an extra £1bn would have to be spent on aid this year and next, because of raised estimates for national income.
Mr Davies told paper: "It is completely ludicrous, at a time when we are borrowing so much money, that we are committing ourselves to an arbitrary figure that is increasingly unaffordable, on the basis of a recalculation."
A Treasury spokesman said: "We are confident that existing spending plans are consistent with our aid commitments."
Mr Cameron added that help for vulnerable countries like Afghanistan was directly in the UK's interest, and that it had already "significantly reduced" the number of threats to domestic security.
He said: "The aid payments that we make - keeping a commitment which we made in our election manifesto - is an important part of keeping us safe and secure in the United Kingdom."
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