Overview
- Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan unveiled a reform plan that concentrates grant funding on the least developed countries and frames aid as strategically focused and partnership-based.
- Emerging economies such as India, South Africa and Mexico are to receive repayable loans rather than grants, with financing targeted to areas like climate action and pandemic preparedness.
- Stabilization and reconstruction efforts will prioritize Europe’s neighborhood as well as the MENA region, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, while migration- and crisis-related programs in Latin America and Southeast Asia will be wound down.
- For sectors like health and basic education, the BMZ will rely more on multilateral mechanisms, citing platforms such as the global vaccine alliance Gavi to achieve greater leverage per euro.
- The ministry cites a shrinking budget trajectory—about €10.3 billion in 2025 with planned declines to €9.5 billion in 2027 and €9.3 billion in 2029—and aims to improve access for German firms to development tenders, a shift that civil-society groups warn risks instrumentalizing aid.