HELSINKI: Finland is expected to cut international development cooperation spending by some 200 million euros next year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in its 2016 budget proposal on Friday.
According to the ministry, a total of the budget proposal for its administrative branch will be 1,003 million euros, which is 187 million less than this year’s level of 1,190 million. The ministry said that Finland’s development cooperation appropriations will be cut by 201 million in accordance with the austerity measures in the country’s public finances.
The Finnish government’s development cooperation expenditure in 2016 is estimated to be a total of 743.6 million euros, accounting for only 0.35 percent of the country’s gross national income. The percentage was 0.6 percent in 2014 and 0.5 percent in 2015.
As a part of the reform in the development policy of Finland, 100 million euros of aid will be converted into loans, which will be channeled via Finnfund, the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation Ltd.
