Photo: Collected
The United States donor agency USAID has announced an immediate cessation or suspension of any work in Bangladesh under contracts, work orders, grants, cooperative agreements, or other assistance or procurement instruments. The USAID sent a message to project implementing partners in this regard on Saturday (25 January), stating the immediate suspension. The suspension has also been felt in other areas dependent on US funding as well.
The USAID, in its letter on the funding suspension, cited US President Donald Trump's recent executive order, saying, "This letter is directing all USAID/Bangladesh implementing partners to immediately cease or suspend any work under your USAID/Bangladesh contract, work order, grant, cooperative agreement, or other assistance or acquisition instrument."
Just hours after taking office on 20 January, Trump ordered a 90-day pause in US foreign development assistance pending a review of efficiencies and consistency with his foreign policy but the scope of the order was not immediately known. Various project stakeholders, including US-funded NGOs in Bangladesh, were concerned about the impact of this order.
According to a cable seen by Reuters, the US State Department issued the "stop-work" order on Friday for all existing foreign assistance and paused new aid after Trump ordered the pause to review whether aid allocation aligned with his foreign policy.
The cable, drafted by the Department's foreign assistance office and approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said waivers have been issued for military financing for Israel and Egypt. No other countries were mentioned in the cable.
The move risks cutting off billions of dollars of life-saving assistance. The United States is the largest single donor of aid globally - in fiscal year 2023, it disbursed $72 billion in assistance.
The State Department cable said effective immediately, senior officials "shall ensure that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, no new obligations shall be made for foreign assistance" until Rubio has made a decision after a review. It says that for existing foreign assistance awards stop-work orders shall be issued immediately until reviewed by Rubio.
The US is the leading contributor of humanitarian assistance in response to the Rohingya crisis, having provided nearly $2.4 billion since the outbreak of violence in August 2017, including nearly $2 billion to assist Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh, according to the USAID website.
The country has assisted Bangladesh with $490 million as obligations and another $550 million as disbursement in 2023 alone via all its agencies.
Messenger/Tareq
