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A weekly development news platform published by UrgeDevWire, produced by Urge Communications. Covering wider East African region.

Dev-News News Desk| East Africa. Urge- DevWire

UK confirms deep aid cuts across East Africa, Kenya faces 93 percent reduction

London, 17 July 2026 – The United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office published country by country funding allocations confirming sweeping reductions to its bilateral aid programme across Africa, as the government reduces overall overseas development spending from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent of gross national income by 2027/28. Nine African countries are set to lose more than 80 percent of direct British assistance by 2029.

Kenya faces the steepest cut in the region, with bilateral support falling by 93 percent. Tanzania is also among the countries facing severe reductions. Bilateral aid to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is battling one of its largest recorded Ebola outbreaks, will fall by 29 percent even as the country continues an active emergency response. Overall bilateral aid to Africa is projected to decline by 56 percent from 2024/25 levels, with funding for the world's least developed countries nearly halved over four years. Funding for multilateral health funds including the Pandemic Fund and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative will also be reduced.

The government said it intends to shift toward partnerships and multilateral support to make development funding more effective. Aid organisations and lawmakers have criticised the cuts, warning they will weaken healthcare, education, humanitarian relief and climate resilience programmes across some of the countries least able to absorb the loss.

Source: United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Dev-News Desk| East Africa. Urge- DevWire