Trump aid cuts to Africa: How economies grew despite funding slump

Melusi Gumbi works at the Luke Commission’s medical drone network in Sidvokodvo, Eswatini. Photo / Ilan Godfrey, The Washington Post

The Trump Administration’s sharp reduction in aid to Africa last year seemed likely to cause a continent-wide crisis of apocalyptic proportions.

While there has been pain, particularly in healthcare, many African nations have displayed remarkable resilience.

United States aid fell to US$7.86 billion ($13.7b) in 2025 from US$12.1b in the last year of the Biden administration.

That’s a decade-long low for America, and rich European countries like Germany and France also scaled back donations.

Total overseas development assistance was projected to fall by US$42b in 2025, according to Donor Tracker.

About 80% of projects administered by the US Agency for International Development were cancelled.

That caused real harm in places like eastern Congo, where clinics assisting victims of sexual violence closed.

Funding for an American anti-HIV/Aids programme was drastically curtailed, despite saving millions of lives for relatively little expense to American taxpayers.

Despite the cuts, sub-Saharan Africa’s economy as a whole grew by 4.1% in 2025. The continent is projected to beat the global average this year with growth of 4.3%.

Growth was driven partly by a global rise in minerals prices, especially those critical to the green economy like lithium, cobalt and copper.

The continent has been rich in natural resources for centuries. Many African governments have made changes.

Some countries, including Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria, have made revenue collection more efficient through digitisation.

Kenya, Nigeria, Angola and Ethiopia began removing fuel subsidies to free up money to cover the financial gap, although higher oil prices as a result of the Iran war have temporarily stalled the effort.

Previously sluggish efforts to integrate African economies have accelerated.

Foreign aid is no longer the continent’s main source of capital. It’s foreign investment and remittances from Africans working abroad.

Africa has deepened ties with alternative global partners – China and the Gulf Arab states. They are focused on building infrastructure and strengthening trade ties.

In February US President Donald Trump signed a one-year extension of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which gave duty-free access to US markets for qualifying countries. He wants changes to the programme to open African markets to US goods through bilateral trade deals.

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