US plans to cut off aid to Kyrgyzstan and number of CIS countries

Proclaimed by US President Donald Trump, America first policy involves reducing aid to developing countries through USAID, Vedomosti newspaper reported, referring to The Foreign Policy.

As noted, judging by the 15-page draft budget of the US Department of State, in March the administration offered to reduce these costs by more than a third. But this is only the arithmetic mean.

Thus, in the draft budget for the 2018 fiscal year, the scan of which the publication provides, the reduction in aid to Ukraine is 68.8 percent, from $ 570,940 to $ 177,880. Tajikistan is to be reduced by 47.6 percent to $ 17,300, Moldova — by 47.4 percent (up to $ 16,000).

Also, Vietnam, Cuba and a number of other countries may completely loose all the aid.

Assistance to Iraq, on the contrary, is proposed to be increased by 144.9 percent (from $ 122,500 to $ 300,000), and to Syria - by 50 percent (from $ 100,000 to $ 150,000).

The agency itself may be subject to reduction. USAID Managing Director Wade Warren recently told his staff that the administration officials were considering closing down the department under the control of the State Department under Trump’s decree on the rationalization of the executive branch on March 13. So far, proposals on restructuring are also accepted.

The agency noted that this is an unprecedented measure. In 1999, the US closed the Information Agency, which funded information and cultural foreign programs, some projects were handed over to the Department of State. However, closure (or staff reduction) of the agency dealing with disease prevention and food security may be much more sensitive, the Foreign Policy says.