Long Story Short

After severe cuts to its 2024 budgets for development and humanitarian aid, we found that the German government is planning to slash funds again in 2025. A recently released draft budget spells out nearly €1 billion in cuts to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, or BMZ, from €11.22 billion ($12.36 billion) this year to €10.28 billion in 2025. Germany is not the only European country planning to reduce its aid budget. In the United Kingdom, the aid budget in 2024 is forecast to be only 0.36% of gross national income — once sums diverted to hosting asylum-seekers are removed — piling pressure on the new Labour government to rethink its plans. The fresh spending squeeze comes despite the new Labour government promising a “reset” of development policy it condemned as “degraded” under the Conservatives. We also discuss the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation that took place in Beijing. It was attended by 50 African heads of state and China pledged to invest nearly $51 billion in the cont