TIL Desk/World/Washington/ The Trump administration has slashed its foreign military financing (FMF) to Pakistan from USD 255 million to USD 100 million for the 2018 fiscal, but has kept its options open whether it would be a grant or should be converted into a loan, according to a US official.
“While we may use FMF to leverage loans for some countries, we will still maintain the flexibility to use it as grant assistance where needed,” a state department spokesman told when asked about the budget proposal of USD 100 million in foreign military funding to Pakistan.
“This budget focuses on bilateral FMF assistance requested for Israel (USD 3.1 billion), Egypt (USD 1.3 billion), Jordan (USD 350 million), and Pakistan (USD 100 million),” the spokesman said yesterday. Last year, the US assistance to Pakistan under the state department budget was USD 534 million, which included USD 225 million towards foreign military funding.
In all, the state department has proposed a massive USD 190 million reduction in its financial aid to Pakistan as compared to the 2016 fiscal. The current 2017 fiscal ends on September 30 this year.
