Following the Swedish government’s decision to cut development aid and end bilateral support to five countries, SweDev’s incoming chair Anna Mia Ekström warns in an interview with the Swedish Radio Ekot that the timing could not be worse. She stresses that the cuts risk worsening global crises, increasing health risks, and weakening Sweden’s long-standing role as a reliable development partner.
Photo: Markus Winkler/Unsplash
Friday, 5 December, the Swedish government announced significant cuts to development aid, ending bilateral aid to Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mozambique, Liberia and Bolivia. In an interview on Sveriges Radio Ekot, Anna Mia Ekström, member of SweDev’s Steering Committee and incoming chair of the network, stressed that reducing support now will only intensify ongoing global crises.
These cuts come on top of earlier cuts, as well as declining funding for Swedish development research – a trend discussed during SweDev’s seminar in the Swedish Parliament on 19 November 2025.
In the interview, Ekström described the most recent decision as “a very unfortunate one, which will have major and severe consequences – consequences the government is surely aware of.” She stressed that the aid reductions are being introduced at “the worst possible moment,” pointing to the current withdrawal of the United States and other key international actors. At a time when global engagement is shrinking, she argued, Sweden’s long-standing role as a predictable and principled development partner is more important than ever, noting that Sweden has delivered some of the world’s most effective development assistance.
Ekström emphasised that around 40 per cent of health aid to some countries is now being cut – an alarming development that, she warned, increases the risk of new pandemics and could lead to a rise in deaths among millions of young people “in the coming months and year.”