{"id":17844,"date":"2025-06-12T15:06:55","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T15:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/12\/the-uk-germany-and-canada-have-slashed-foreign-aid-this-year-deepening-damage-done-by-us-cuts-analysis-shows\/"},"modified":"2025-06-12T15:06:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T15:06:55","slug":"the-uk-germany-and-canada-have-slashed-foreign-aid-this-year-deepening-damage-done-by-us-cuts-analysis-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/12\/the-uk-germany-and-canada-have-slashed-foreign-aid-this-year-deepening-damage-done-by-us-cuts-analysis-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"The UK, Germany and Canada have slashed foreign aid this year, deepening damage done by US cuts, analysis shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

Western countries have slashed foreign aid budgets this year and \ufeff<\/strong>reductions will steepen in 2026, with the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada cutting the most, according to a new analysis from the Center for Global Development (CGD). <\/p>\n

Smaller nations will also be hammered by the reduction in foreign aid, with Lesotho, Micronesia and Eswatini each losing around 50% of their aid. <\/p>\n

The analysis looked at projections of bilateral aid \u2013 money provided directly to another country rather than routed through multilateral organizations such as United Nations agencies or the World Bank \u2013 for 2025 and 2026. <\/p>\n

The US is projected to cut the most, with a projected 56% reduction compared to levels two years ago. <\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s gutting of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) earlier this year has already left a hole in many international aid budgets, and several other Western nations are following suit rather than filling the void. <\/p>\n

\u201cA big, big chunk of overall cuts in the next couple of years are going to be from the US pulling out, rather than other countries. But these other countries are making things worse,\u201d said Crawfurd, a senior research fellow at the CGD. <\/p>\n

The UK aid cuts are estimated to represent a roughly 39% reduction compared to 2023 levels of spending. Meanwhile, Germany is cutting about 27%, Canada 25% and France 19% of their international aid budgets. <\/p>\n

The true level of aid cuts remains unclear, as the Trump administration\u2019s proposed budget and other government proposals are still making their way through legislatures. But some funding cuts are almost guaranteed. <\/p>\n

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced in February that his government would increase the UK\u2019s defense spending by cutting its aid budget to 0.3% of gross national income in 2027, its lowest level since 1999. <\/p>\n

Many organizations and aid workers have raised alarm about European governments pitting aid budgets against defense spending. <\/p>\n

\u201cCutting the already lean aid budget is a false economy and will only increase division and amounts to a betrayal of the world\u2019s most vulnerable people,\u201d said Halima Begum, head of Oxfam GB. \u201cIt is a false dichotomy to pit international cooperation to tackle poverty against national security interests in order to avoid tax increases.\u201d <\/p>\n

Crawfurd said that bilateral aid is a \u201creally small part of government budgets\u201d and the money for defense or security could be found elsewhere. \u201cIt\u2019s a choice\u2026 it\u2019s a political choice,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

The think tank wrote in its analysis that \u201cone striking takeaway is that some countries are projected to lose large amounts of ODA (official development assistance) simply because of who their main donors are \u2013 while others are projected to lose very little\u201d \u2013 a game of chance, with losses not matching up to the recipient country\u2019s needs. <\/p>\n

Yemen, for example, is projected to experience a 19% fall in its bilateral funding compared to 2023, while its \u201ccomparable\u201d neighbor country Somalia is projected to lose about 39%. <\/p>\n

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has also warned that multilateral aid cuts are threatening efforts to tackle 44 of the highest-priority, protracted humanitarian crises. As of April, only 11.9% of the funding for UN response plans had been covered. <\/p>\n

Minimizing the damage<\/h2>\n

The CGD is urging Western donors to reallocate aid to the poorest countries to try to \u201censure that resources are directed to populations in greatest need.\u201d <\/p>\n

Western countries also need to improve coordination to mitigate further damage, especially as they are withdrawing from countries receiving aid, the think tank said. <\/p>\n

In some countries, the cuts will change who the largest donor is, which \u201ccan lead to major shifts in what gets funded and how,\u201d according to the CGD. For example, Portugal will likely overtake the US in aid to Angola, and Japan is projected to overtake France in Egypt. \u201cA new lead donor may not continue the same programs\u201d or may take time to get up and running, according to the analysis. <\/p>\n

Giving a larger share of aid to multilateral organizations can also help improve international cooperation and cut down on duplication of aid efforts. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n

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