Pakistan(National Times)- WASHINGTON: The United States has dramatically cut the budgets of overseas development and aid programmes, with multi-year contracts pared down by 92%, or $54 billion, the State Department said Wednesday. After his inauguration on January 20, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order demanding a freeze on all US foreign aid for 90 days, during which time it would undergo a review by senior political leadership to cut spending on programmes that did not align with his “America First” agenda. The review in part targeted multi-year foreign assistance contracts awarded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), with the vast majority eliminated during its course. “At the conclusion of a process led by USAID leadership, including tranches personally reviewed by Secretary (Marco) Rubio, nearly 5,800 awards with $54 billion in value remaining were identified for elimination as part of the America First agenda — a 92% reduction,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement. The review also looked at more than 9,100 grants involving foreign assistance, valued at more than $15.9 billion. At the conclusion of the review, 4,100 grants worth almost $4.4 billion were targeted to be eliminated, a 28% reduction.”These commonsense eliminations will allow the bureaus, along with their contracting and grants officers, to focus on remaining programmes, find additional efficiencies, and tailour subsequent programmes more closely to the Administration’s America First priorities,” the State Department spokesperson said. Programmes that were not cut included food assistance, life-saving medical treatments for diseases like HIV and malaria, and support for countries including Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and Lebanon, among others, the spokesperson said.