CANBERRA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has announced that it will reduce the nation's foreign aid budget by about 117 million Australian dollars (82.5 million U.S. dollars).
Included in the Federal Budget for 2019-20, which was delivered by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Tuesday night, the nation's overseas aid expenditure will fall from 4.16 billion Australian dollars (2.93 billion U.S. dollars) in financial year 2018/19 to 4.04 billion Australian dollars (2.85 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019-20.
A majority of the cuts will be in the amount spent on aid programs in southeast and south Asia, with aid to Pakistan to be cut from 39 million Australian dollars (27.5 million U.S. dollars) to 19 million Australian dollars (13.4 million U.S. dollars) and that for Cambodia from 56 million Australian dollars (39.5 million U.S. dollars) to 43 million Australian dollars (30.3 million U.S. dollars).
Another 50 million Australian dollars (35.2 million U.S. dollars) from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade budget will be re-directed to fund "iconic" national and regional tourism projects.
Aid to the Pacific will go untouched, with the government committing 1.4 billion Australian dollars (988 million U.S. dollars) in foreign aid for the region in 2019-20, 35 percent of the total aid budget.
Marise Payne, Australia's minister for foreign affairs, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that the budget was about advancing Australia's national interests by protecting the security and prosperity.
"As our southeast Asian neighbors transition from developing economies, the government is increasingly focused on building economic resilience, alongside poverty alleviation," she said.
