In what is expected to be a significant cutback in US development aid to Africa, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated that 83% of USAID’s programs will be discontinued.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been entrusted with identifying alleged inefficient government expenditures, participated in the quick six-week examination of US aid spending that led to the cancellation of 5200 contracts.
“After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID. The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States,” Rubio tweeted.
Rubio claimed that the remaining programmes, numbering around 1000, are to be administered “more effectively” under his State Department “in consultation with Congress.” Rubio thanked “DOGE and our hardworking staff” for what he dubbed “overdue and historic reform.”
On January 20, President Donald Trump issued an executive order ordering a review of all the tens of billions of dollars in U.S. aid and development efforts abroad, well as a freeze on funds for foreign assistance.
Trump claimed that a large portion of foreign aid was unnecessary.
Africa, which has long been a recipient of major flows of US development aid, is likely to be heavily impacted by the gutting of USAID.
According to data from Semafor, citing the US State Department, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for $12bn of USAID’s 2024 spending obligations; the five largest expected recipients were listed as DR Congo ($1.3bn), Ethiopia ($1.2bn), Sudan ($770m), Nigeria ($760m) and South Sudan ($730m).
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