Sweden to become the biggest recipient of its own development aid

Sweden plans to use almost one-fifth of its annual aid budget to pay for the influx of refugees from Ukraine, depriving the Global Fund, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and other groups of millions of dollars in expected funding.

Responding to an initial estimate of 76,000 Ukrainians coming to Sweden in the first half of this year, the government earmarked 10.3 billion Swedish kronor ($1 billion) from its foreign aid budget — set at 57.4 billion kronor, or around $5.8 billion — to cover hosting costs. There is concern that Sweden using development funds for housing refugees in country will cause a domino effect, and others will follow.