UK, Germany and Canada reduce foreign help 2023
UK, Germany and Canada reduce foreign help 2023
This year, western countries have drastically shortened their expenses for foreign aid, and the reductions will continue to increase in 2026 . According to a new analysis of the Center for Global Development (CGD), the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada, are the strongest.
Influence of help on developing countries
These cuts will result in "significant losses" for many developing countries, according to the analysis, which was made available exclusively. In nominal amounts, Ethiopia is expected to lose most help. Jordan, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo are also particularly affected.
effects on smaller countries
Smaller nations such as Lesotho, micronesia and eswatini will also suffer greatly from the cuts in the field of foreign aid, with each of these nations losing around 50% of their aids.
growing concerns among experts
"It is like putting the ambitious goals for fighting poverty and Transformation of developing countries on fire," Lee Crawfurd, one of the authors of the report, told CNN. "There are some of the poorest and most vulnerable places in the world that will be most affected."
forecasts for bilateral help
The analysis examined the forecasts for bilateral help-i.e. funds that are given directly to another country instead of being managed via multilateral organizations such as UN agencies or the World Bank-for the years 2025 and 2026.
The USA in particular is expected to make the highest cuts, with a decrease of 56% compared to the expenditure two years ago. The reductions in the budget of the This year has already left a gap in many international aid budgets, and several other western countries follow this example instead of closing the gap.
reactions to the cuts
The British Prime Minister Keir Strander announced in February that his government would increase defense expenditure by reducing the auxiliary budget to 0.3% of gross national income by 2027, which means the lowest level since 1999. Many organizations and auxiliary workers have raised the alarm about the apparently growing challenge of weighing up between help and defense spending.
"The reduction of the already lean auxiliary budget is a wrong economy and will only increase the division, which is equivalent to a betrayal of the most vulnerable people in the world," said Halima Begum, head of Oxfam GB. "It is a wrong dichotomy to play international cooperation in combating poverty against national security interests to avoid tax increases."
The unequal distribution of auxiliary money
Crawfurd found that bilateral help is only a "very small part of the budget spending" and that the funds for defense or security could come from elsewhere. "It's a choice ... it's a political choice," he added.
In the analysis, the Think Tank found that “a striking knowledge is that some countries will lose large amounts of ODA (official development cooperation), simply because of the identity of their main donors - while others are likely to be very little lost”. This is a kind of gambling, whereby the losses do not meet the needs of the receiving country.
The situation in Yemen and in Somalia
An example is Yemen, which will probably experience a decrease of 19% of its bilateral financing compared to 2023, while the comparable neighboring country Somalia could lose about 39%.
The role of the UN in humanitarian crises
The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian matters (OCHA) has also warned that the cuts in multilateral help affect the efforts to manage 44 of the most urgent and lengthy humanitarian crises. Until April, only 11.9% of the financing for the UN reaction plans were covered.
"Every year the UN helped more than 100 million people around the world, while they go in wars and disasters through the worst times of their lives. But let us make it clear: We will not reach the level of financing that we saw in previous years," explained Anja Nitzsche, head of partnerships and mobilization of resources at OCHA, to CNN. "Vulnerable families are left behind without food, clean water, health care, accommodation or protection in countries such as Sudan, Yemen, Ukraine, Myanmar and Afghanistan."
minimizing the damage
The CGD urges western donors to redistribute help to support the poorest countries and ensure that the resources benefit the most urgently needed population groups.
western countries also have to improve coordination to minimize further damage, especially since they withdraw from the countries that receive help, according to the Think tank. In some countries, the cuts could change the largest encoder, which can "lead to great shifts in financing and their application". For example, Portugal is expected to overtake the USA for Angola, and Japan could surpass France in Egypt. "A new main provider may not continue the same programs" or could need time to become active, according to the analysis.
improvement in international cooperation
A greater proportion of the help of multilateral organizations can also help promote international cooperation and reduce the duplication for aid measures. "Coordination remains a constant challenge," Crawfurd told CNN. "The easiest way to do this is simply to finance large multilateral funds like the World Bank."
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