BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 10. The U.S. is closing 83 percent of USAID programs that do not meet Washington's interests, the head of the US State Department Marco Rubio said, Trend reports.
According to him, the 5200 contracts that are now canceled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States..”
“In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18 percent of programs we are keeping (approximately 1,000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department,” he added.
President Donald Trump's administration announced in late February that it was cutting off more than 90 percent of foreign aid provided through USAID. It was reported that a total of about 5,800 grants were canceled, and more than 500 USAID grants were frozen.
The US Supreme Court in early March rejected the authorities' request to suspend the payment of about $2 billion to foreign organizations through USAID for already completed projects.