Tough ride for Malawi as UK reduces aid support by 90% in 2029

By Cindy Chitera

LONDON-(MaraviPost)-Malawi must brace for tough time ahead following United Kingdom announcement to cut its development assistance to Malawi by a staggering 90 percent by 2029.

This is according to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26.

The report reveals that UK Official Development Assistance to Malawi, which stood at £50.2 million (about MK88 billion) in the 2025/26 financial year, will be reduced to £20 million in 2026/27.

The report says the assistance will further be slashed to £10 million in 2027/28, and eventually drop to just £5 million by 2028/29.

The planned reduction for Malawi is significantly steeper than the average for Africa as a whole.

UK aid to the African continent is set to decline by 52 percent, from £1.449 billion to £693.8 million.

This publication understands that Malawi’s 90 percent cut is roughly 38 percentage points deeper than the regional average.

The FCDO has attributed the reductions to UK government’s decision to lower its Official Development Assistance budget to 0.3 percent of gross national income by 2027.

This is in order to fund increased defence spending.

The cuts are expected to affect countries across the continent with Mozambique facing a similar 90 percent reduction while Rwanda and Sierra Leone will see cuts of over 80 percent.

Malawi authorities however are yet to adjust in fiscal plans to accommodate the changes due to financial assistance cuts from UK.

Maravi Post Reporter

Op-Ed Columnists, Opinion contributors and one submissions are posted under this Author. In our By-lines we still give Credit to the right Author. However we stand by all reports posted by Maravi Post Reporter.