Germany's cuts to its development spending will be a serious blow to aid organizations.

"We are deeply concerned. And it will be felt by people in the Global South," said Oliver Müller, head of Caritas International, which is involved in emergency and disaster relief worldwide.

Müller is appalled at the draft of Germany's 2026 federal budget, which the federal government approved on Wednesday.

According to the draft, the budget of the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development will fall below the €10 billion ($11.4 billion) mark for the first time since 2018. The budget had already shrunk by almost €1 billion from 2024 to 2025.

What Müller finds equally alarming is that the Foreign Office's budget for humanitarian emergency aid is set to be cut by more than half by 2026.

Caritas has been able to fund several large projects thanks to government money, "but these projects will be eliminated without replacement," Müller said.

Müller emphasized that Caritas International won't be making across-the-board cuts.

"There simply are humanitarian crises that we think are so serious and terrible that we will continue to use our own funds, donations and church funds to provide assistance," he said.

As an example, Müller pointed to aid for internally displaced people in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, "one of the greatest humanitarian disasters of our time." The Foreign Ministry will no longer provide any more funding for Congo.

"In the worst case, no one will provide any more help," he added.

Currently, there is a trend to cut back on aid for the world's poorest, said Müller, pointing to cuts made by the United States, as well as the United Kingdom, Belgium and other EU countries.

Germany's credibility on the line

Other organizations have widely criticized the German federal government's planned cuts. VENRO, an umbrella organization for development cooperation and humanitarian aid organizations, warned Germany not to "shirk its responsibility."

Given the expected cuts, VENRO said it would no longer be possible to engage in strategic international cooperation. It accused the government of overlooking the importance of the work done by the networks of professional organizations from civil society and those on the ground in providing emergency aid. The cuts are "absolutely incomprehensible," according to a VENRO statement.

The day before the budget announcement, 17 aid organizations jointly accused the government of jeopardizing "not only life-saving measures, but also Germany's strategic interests and international credibility." Among those who signed the statement were Bread for the World, Welthungerhilfe, One and Oxfam. A similar call had already been made in June by 30 organizations.

All of this means that the ministry headed by Reem Alabali Radovan, who has been in office since May, is losing its ability to make a difference. The declining importance of development policy is also evident when looking at the overall budget. The draft budget for 2026 provides for expenditures of €520.5 billion, around a third of which is currently still financed by new loans.

Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil explained that the aim was to ensure Germany's future viability, stressing the growing importance of military readiness to counter Russia's aggressive warfare. Without Russian President Vladimir Putin, this budget would look very different, said the SPD politician, who is also vice chancellor in the coalition government made up of Klingbeil'sSocial Democrats (SPD) and the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU).

Of the planned total budget, €9.94 billion has been allocated to the the Development Aid Ministry — just over 1.9% of the national budget. While this is not a catastrophic setback, it is a significant turning point. The largest percentage of the budget allocated to development aid was during the administration of Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2019, at 2.87%.

Missing the international ODA target

The Official Development Assistance (ODA) ratio refers to the share of gross national income spent on development cooperation. In 2024, Germany's ODA ratio was 0.67%. Steffen Meyer, the finance ministry state secretary, is now predicting 0.52% for 2026 and 0.43% for 2029. This means Germany will fail to meet the international target of 0.7%.

Caritas head Müller emphasized that despite reduced funding, an independent ministry for development cooperation remains important.

"If the ministry were not there, things would be even worse," he pointed out. It's about shifting awareness to recognize that engagement in development policy and humanitarian emergency aid also serves global security and climate protection.

"Ultimately, that also helps us in Germany."

This article was originally written in German.

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