The ruling coalition has pledged to cut development aid spending by €1 billion.
Finland will end bilateral development cooperation programs in Afghanistan, Kenya, Mozambique and Myanmar, the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development announced. Ville Tavio (Finnish) at a press conference on Thursday.
From 2024 to 2028, approximately 500 million euros will be cut from national and regional cooperation budgets.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also proposed a €160 million cut in revenue for multilateral cooperation programs, including funding by UN agencies. Humanitarian aid will be cut by 130 million euros.
The government’s plans include a commitment to cut €1 billion from the development aid budget during this parliamentary term.
In addition, loan-based financing will be reduced by around 60 million euros per year.
“In development cooperation, it is better for austerity to be targeted across well-defined projects, rather than to cut the same amount everywhere,” Tabio said.
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