Sweden wants answers from the US – about 120 million

Donald Trump
Sweden wants answers from the US – aid is stuck

Ella Öfwerman,

Olivia Birgander

Updated 16.42 | Published 14.04         

The entrance to the closed agency USAID. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AP

Sweden wants answers from the US.

This concerns just over 120 million kronor that Sida has paid into USAID.

Now Swedish aid is stuck.

At the beginning of the year, Trump decided to close down the country's aid agency USAID. At that time, several European countries had already transferred large sums in projects that will go to low-income countries.

Sweden, together with Norway and the Netherlands, has transferred at least 15 million dollars, approximately equivalent to just over 150 million kronor to USAID. The money has now been stuck there for several months, reports AP. This after President Donald Trump decided on January 20 to freeze funding to the agency.

Should help farmers

It is about a project called WE4F that will help farmers in poor countries come up with new climate-smart ways to grow more food.

But it is not the only project that Sida, Sweden's development cooperation agency, is co-financing with USAID. According to their calculations, Sweden has 12 million dollars, just over 120 million Swedish kronor, of Swedish aid that is now stuck.

- We want to know what is happening now with the money and the project, says Inga-Lill Hagberg, press officer at Sida.

The US government has not paid back any money. Sida states that they have not yet received any response at all from their American counterpart.

"It is a concern for us, especially since we want our partner organizations to be compensated for the work they have put into the programs," says Julia Lindholm, press spokesperson at Sida, to the AP.

US President Donald Trump. Photo: Chris Szagola/AP