France, the fourth-largest country provider of foreign aid, has announced a major reduction in its official development aid budget.
This year’s public development aid budget — the main budget set aside specifically for foreign aid — was previously set at €5.9 billion but is being cut by €742 million (around $805.9 million), or 12.5%.
“We deplore this reversal,” Olivier Bruyeron, president of Coordination SUD, an association representing 180 French NGOs, told Devex. “In the situation of today’s world, more – not less– French aid is needed.”