2026 Finance Bill: a fifth cut in French official development assistance
Publié le 03/02/2026.
The draft finance bill (PLF) for 2026, adopted on February 2 in accordance with Article 49.3 of the Constitution, confirms a cut of €803 million in the “Official Development Assistance” (ODA) budget. This is the fifth consecutive cut in less than two years to the ODA budget, which accounts for only 0.45% of the national budget.
The ODA budget will fall from €4.373 billion in the 2025 finance bill to €3.569 billion (-18%) in 2026. In addition, this budget confirms France’s abandonment of innovative ODA financing since 2025 (see box).
On average, state budget missions are being cut by 0.7%. The ODA program is the second most cut in volume (-$803 million), behind the “Investing for France in 2030” program (-$867 million), and the second most cut in proportion (-18%) after “Investing for France in 2030” (-18.4%).
This is the fifth consecutive cut in the Official Development Assistance budget in just under two years. Since 2021, when a law was passed providing for a gradual increase in funding for this policy, it has instead been reduced by 48%. With the adoption of this budget, France’s total official development assistance, as calculated by the OECD, could fall back to 0.38% of GNI in 2026—a level equivalent to that of 2016 after years of progress.
As an illustration, cutting 800 million euros from the budget of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria means 860,000 fewer lives preserved.
The cuts are heavily impacting France’s multilateral aid. Of the two main programs of the ODA mission — “Solidarity with Developing Countries” (P209), administered by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MFA), and “Economic and Financial Aid for Development” (P110), led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance — 72% of the budget cuts concern multilateral aid. This represents a 476 million euros decrease (-42%) compared to 2025. Some of the decrease in P209 credits is due to the consolidation of all MFA contributions in the areas of health, education, feminist diplomacy, gender equality, and sexual and reproductive health and rights in the “Solidarity Fund for Development” program (P384). However, the payment credits for this program remain unchanged.
The 2026 draft finance bill confirms an unprecedented reduction in humanitarian aid, despite France’s commitment to allocating one billion euros per year to this area by 2025. The allocation of 895 million euros in 2024 seemed to put France on track to meet this goal, but the government has since cut this budget by 67%. The 2026 draft budget provides only 294 million euros, 206 million less than in 2025 (-41.2%). Specifically, funding for the Humanitarian Emergency and Stabilization Fund has decreased by 26 million euros ; food aid has been cut by over 60% (80 million euros) ; and voluntary contributions to the United Nations have decreased by two-thirds, from 150 million to 50 million euros.
Support for NGOs has fallen sharply. Funding for the CSO-Initiative program, which is managed by the French Development Agency (AFD) and serves as the primary channel through which Official Development Assistance (ODA) is provided to civil society organizations (CSOs), will decrease by 18% between 2025 and 2026. Specifically, funding will fall from 132 million euros in the 2025 Finance Bill to 107 million euros in the 2026 draft finance bill. Additionally, commitment authorizations for this program will decrease by 40.7% in 2026, leading to fewer new projects in the coming years.
| The end of innovative development and climate financing
In addition to cuts made through financial laws and decrees, the 2025 Finance Act ended France’s innovative Official Development Assistance (ODA) financing mechanism. Previously, a portion of revenue from the financial transactions tax and the solidarity levy on airline tickets was allocated each year to the Solidarity Fund for Development (FSD) to support France’s financing of multilateral instruments (Global Fund, Gavi, Unitaid, the Green Climate Fund, and the Global Partnership for Education). The 2025 Finance Bill formalized the abolition of the FSD, all proceeds from the two taxes now flow into the general budget, thus eliminating the only mechanism that had provided stable, dedicated support for ODA. The FSD is replaced by a new budget line of the same name, which adds 738 million euros in payment credits to the ODA mission from 2025 onwards, artificially limiting the fall in payment credits. |
