Malawi is facing the near-total loss of UK development funding within three years, after the Government confirmed on Thursday that aid to the country will fall by 90% by 2028-29 — a cut roughly 38 percentage points deeper than the reduction facing the rest of Africa.
The figures, buried in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s (FCDO) Annual Report and Accounts 2025-2026, show UK official development assistance to Malawi dropping from £50.2 million in 2025-26 to just £20 million next year, then £10 million in 2027-28 and £5 million by 2028-29.
It is a far steeper reduction than the one facing the continent as a whole, where UK aid falls from £1.449 billion to £693.8 million — a cut of 52%, against Malawi’s 90%.
The Government’s own explanation, set out in a companion policy paper published the same day, The UK’s Modern Development Approach, is unambiguous about where the money is going.
Aid budgets, it says, are being reduced “to fund a necessary increase in defence spending” in the current fiscal climate.
The paper frames this as part of a broader philosophical shift in how Britain does development, moving the UK from donor to investor, from delivering services to supporting systems, from grants to expertise, and from international intervention to local leadership.
