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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
World
Alicja Hagopian and Anne Gulland

Who funds global aid – and where do the billions of dollars go?

OECD United States Donald Trump Masood Ahmed China Foreign Aid United Kingdom Germany United Nations
A Somali child looks out from her family's makeshift home in Maslah camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) - (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

From the announcement of a 90-day spending freeze on the day of Trump’s inauguration, the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been swift and brutal.

“Rooting out waste, blocking woke programmes and exposing activities that run contrary to national interests” were among the reasons Donald Trump had the agency in his sights. Another, as he told reporters on February 2, was that USAID was being run by a bunch of “radical lunatics”.

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