Drastic cuts in foreign aid by the United States have led to criticisms. According to multiple sources including the British Broadcasting Corporation, the United States temporarily paused its foreign aid especially which is given through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to more than one hundred countries last month to review it and — after the completion of its review — terminated around 5,800 USAID awards in February, though it issued a waiver for many of its foreign aid programs. But given that the US foreign aid provided through the USAID is drastically cut permanently, there will be various impacts on different countries including those countries that heavily rely on the USAID funds.
The sudden and drastic cut of the foreign aid of the United States, which has been the world’s largest single aid provider for decades, has by this time led to various outcomes in different aid recipient countries, impacting many people globally. It is notable that the sudden cut of USAID funds, which are a larger share of the overseas aid of the United States (for instance, 61 percent of total US aid in 2023), has impacted life-saving, educational and other crucial programs in many countries including HIV/AIDS programs in many African countries, malaria control programs, programs for drought-prone populations in Africa, school feeding programs in West Africa and humanitarian assistance (including emergency food aid) in many countries including many war-torn countries.
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Pertinently saying, there is the crumbling of the HIV treatment and collapsing of TB services, causing profound harm to many of the world’s most vulnerable people in many war-torn and other countries including — but not limited to — Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, South Sudan and Syria. Among others, providing medical care, counseling and legal assistance to thousands in war-torn Sudan has been forced to shut down some of its operations due to the US aid cut. But the permanent cut of the US aid will cause more harm, impacting many vital programs. Those countries that have limited economic capacity to finance their critical programs will be impacted more by the drastic and continued overseas aid cut.
The pertinent aspect is whether any country can cut its foreign aid altogether. It is definitely the authority of any country to provide and cut foreign assistance. Unless there are legally binding pacts between the parties, foreign aid cuts are not unjustified. The US aid cut is also not the only event. Different countries previously cut foreign aid due to several reasons including a shift in national priorities and the violations of rights. For instance, the United States cut aid to Central American countries in 2019 to pressure them to reduce migration flows, the United Kingdom announced cuts to its foreign aid budget in 2020 due to economic challenges and Australia reduced aid to Cambodia in response to human rights abuses.
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But given the unprecedentedly negative outcomes of the unprecedented and sudden cut of US foreign aid, which came amid the dramatic contraction of government spending but has been given for decades and is a crucial geopolitical tool, to thousands of programs across the world, reducing the impacts and addressing various concerns are vital. Instead of a drastic and sudden aid cut, a gradual cut in the US aid (given that the US finally cuts its aid significantly) may be helpful in avoiding the deadly consequences and providing space to find alternative sources of funds for vital programs —dependent on the USAID funds.
But the vital programs are desired to be supported and strengthened efforts are needed to manage funds from other sources. The role of other donor countries or organizations may also be helpful for many vital programs to continue their services in many countries in Asia, Africa and other regions. But foreign aid dependency is not a permanent solution to development and life-saving activities. Uncertainty remains on it. For this, strengthening the capacity of aid-recipient countries to finance their initiatives is vital.
