An independent U.S. foreign aid agency the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has rewarded the Liberian government with a five-year COMPACT grant after focusing on good policies, country ownership, and results. Created by the U.S. Congress in 2004, the MCC's Board examines a country's performance on independent and transparent policy indicators and selects compact-eligible countries based on policy performance.

Speaking at the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism (MICAT) yesterday, the Minister of Finance and Acting Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs, Amara Konneh said based on our eligibility, Liberia stands to receive a substantial grant to support our recently launched Liberia Rising 2030 Vision and the five-year development plan for transformation.

"The progress that we have made so far has encouraged our historical partner, the United States of America, to renew its support to Liberia's development through the MCC. We now have a larger task before us to develop a comprehensive program for COMPACT implementation that will determine its size within the MCC's budgetary limits and focus on our national priorities and target Liberia's most pressing needs in infrastructure," Minister Konneh stated.

He stated further, "This is going to be a lengthy process characterized by consultations within the government, the public, and with MCC to ensure that we meet your expectations and the established standards for COMPACT."

For her part, the United States Ambassador accredited to Liberia, Deborah Malac said during the MICAT press briefing that being eligible for MCC's COMPACT is an important step for Liberia. She continued that Liberia had to meet certain standards to be accepted for the COMPACT grant.

She concluded that the Liberian government still has a lot of work to do and that the U.S. government would be watching Liberia's progress.