US confirms cancellation of 83% of USAID programmes

The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has confirmed that 83% of programmes run by USAID will be cancelled in what is likely to represent a major reduction in US development assistance to Africa.  

The cancellation of 5200 contracts follows a rapid six-week review into US aid spending by the administration of President Donald Trump with the participation of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been tasked with rooting out perceived wasteful government expenditure. 

“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.”

President Donald Trump on Jan. 20 issued an executive order directing a freeze of foreign assistance funding and a review of all of the tens of billions of dollars of U.S. aid and development work abroad. Trump charged that much of foreign assistance was wasteful and advanced a liberal agenda.

In the last month, thousands of USAID staff have been placed on administrative leave while those working on overseas programmes have been told to prepare to return to the US.

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).