Archive · 16 Sep 2025
EU Likely to Miss Aid for Trade Target for Poorest Nations
The EU promised to give at least a quarter of its trade aid to the poorest countries by 2030, but it's not on track.
Auditors looked at how the EU helps these countries, like building roads and supporting trade.
They found the EU has given less aid recently than it should.
This means the EU might not reach its goal.
The EU plans to look into why it's behind and figure out what to do next.
The EU is unlikely to meet its goal of allocating 25% of trade aid to least developed countries by 2030.
The EU set the target in 2017, but the auditors found the funding rate has fallen recently.
The EU allocated 17.2 billion euros to least developed countries through the Aid for Trade program to 2022.
The share of funding to the poorest countries declined by 6 percentage points between 2015 and 2022.
The European Commission will assess why the targets are not being met and consider more realistic goals.
- Who
- The European Union (EU) and EU auditors.
- What
- The EU is likely to miss its target for directing a quarter of aid spent on trade to least developed countries.
- When
- The target was set in 2017, and the audit results were released recently.
- Where
- The EU, and least developed countries including Malawi, Rwanda, Angola, and Cambodia.
- Why
- To boost development in poor countries through the 'Aid for Trade' initiative, but a concrete plan wasn't made to meet goals.
- Aid Program
- Aid for Trade
- Target Countries
- Least Developed Countries
- Target Date
- 2030
- Funding Decline
- 6 percentage points (2015-2022)
- Auditors
- EU auditors
- EU Allocation (to 2022)
- 17.2 billion euros
- Total Aid to Developing Countries (to 2022)
- 106 billion euros