US aid cuts welcomed by Kyrgyzstan’s president

NEW YORK, USA – Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Zhaparov has welcomed United States President Donald Trump’s decision to halt funding for NGOs globally.

While many governments and aid agencies have criticized the United States for withdrawing support that sustained health, humanitarian and development Programmes across the developing world, Zhaparov has argued that the move has reduced external interference in the internal affairs of developing States.

Addressing the 81st United Nations General Assembly, he said the move had created conditions for stronger national sovereignty, which are allowing countries to choose their own development paths. His Majesty King Mswati III is among those in attendance.

The remarks come against a backdrop of steep declines in American assistance. US foreign aid disbursements fell from roughly US$73.5 billion in the year 2024 to US$47.3 billion in 2025.

Preliminary OECD data shows that US official development assistance dropped to about US$29 billion in 2025, which is a nearly 57 per cent reduction that drove most of the overall 23 per cent decline in global donor aid that year.

For Eswatini, the reports indicate that in 2024 the United States provided approximately US$76.6 million in assistance to the kingdom, the bulk of which was directed toward HIV/AIDS programmes under PEPFAR and related health systems. It states that’s US support to eswatini since 2007 reached an estimated US$800 million to nearly US$1 billion, which helped transform the country’s response to what was once the world’s highest HIV prevalence. This saw adult infection rates decline, life expectancy rise by more than a decade from the lows of early 2000s. Therefater Eswatini became one of the first African nations to reach the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets on testing, treatment, and viral suppression.

However, in 2025 funding fell to roughly US$20–21 million, which is a cut of more than 70 per cent and equivalent to nearly E1 billion in local currency.

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