Mozambique was the member of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) that received the most aid from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2023, totalling 664.1 million dollars (41.7 billion meticals).
According to Lusa, the data appears on one of the few electronic pages on the Internet that still contains official information from USAID after a decision by Donald Trump’s government to eliminate the agency, and 2023 is the most recent fiscal year for which there is complete information.
According to the document, in the period under review USAID disbursed a total of 72 billion dollars and most of the aid (more than 16.6 billion dollars) was sent to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in the CPLP universe, after Mozambique, Angola ranked second on the list of the largest recipients of USAID aid in 2023, with 71.3 million dollars, followed by Brazil with 68.9 million dollars and East Timor with 43.6 million dollars.
This is followed by Cape Verde with 2.9 million dollars disbursed by the US agency, Guinea-Bissau with 2.9 million dollars, Equatorial Guinea with 658.7 thousand dollars, São Tomé and Príncipe with 216.3 thousand dollars and finally Portugal with 6.4 thousand dollars.
USAID Department in the USA
USAID is the world’s largest single donor, distributing assistance ranging from women’s health in conflict zones to access to clean water, HIV/AIDS treatments or energy security. The agency oversees humanitarian, development and security programmes in around 120 countries.
In the first days of his second term, US President Donald Trump suspended all international aid for 90 days, with the exception of humanitarian food programmes and military aid to Israel and Egypt.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be the new acting director of USAID, which he accused of being ‘completely lacking in responsiveness’, criticising the ‘insubordination’ in that body.
Trump, as well as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), businessman Elon Musk, and some Republican congressmen have criticised USAID in increasingly harsh terms, accusing it of promoting progressive causes.
Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to be the region most affected by this decision. Mozambique, for example, has been allocated tens of millions of dollars for HIV/AIDS and emergency food programmes in 2023.
Recently, the Mozambican government expressed concern about the possible impacts of the temporary suspension of foreign aid from the United States, decreed by President Donald Trump. The measure, which will be in force while a review of assistance programmes is carried out, could particularly affect the health sector, according to Prime Minister Benvinda Levi.
She stressed that the greatest impact could be felt on programmes essential to the public health system, many of which depend on external funding to operate. ‘At the moment, we must wait for the definitive decision from the United States, but we recognise that the challenges are significant,’ she said.
