Monrovia — Despite scoring high in the 2024 Millennium Challenge Compact scorecard, Liberia was not selected by the Board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which held its quarterly meeting on December 13 and chose Cape Verde, Tanzania, and the Philippines as beneficiaries of the new compact.
In the 2024 fiscal year report released by the MCC, Liberia's performance exceeded expectations by passing 14 of the 20 indicators. These 14 indicators encompassed various aspects, including fiscal policy, inflation, political rights, civil liberties, control of corruption, trade policy, rule of law, freedom of information, gender in the economy, land rights and access, health expenditures, access to credit, employment opportunities, and immunization rates.
This achievement marked a significant improvement compared to the previous year, where Liberia fell short in 11 indicators, including several of those successfully passed this year, such as "rule of law," "trade policy," "inflation," "fiscal policy," and "immunization rates."
MCC's scorecards play an important role in the competitive selection process to determine which countries are eligible to establish a five-year grant agreement known as a compact.
MCC's Board, chaired by the Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, evaluates candidate countries for compact eligibility based on three statutorily mandated factors: policy performance, the potential to reduce poverty and stimulate economic growth, and the availability of MCC funds.
The Board held its quarterly meeting on December 13 and selected Cape Verde as newly eligible to develop a compact for the purpose of regional economic integration. The Board also selected Tanzania and the Philippines to develop threshold programs, which are smaller grant programs designed to support policy and institutional reforms that address economic growth constraints.
"The Board's selection of Cape Verde, the Philippines, and Tanzania advances MCC's mission to forge strong partnerships with countries that have demonstrated a commitment to democratic governance, investing in their people, and economic freedom," said MCC's Chief Executive Officer Alice Albright. "We look forward to building on prior partnerships and working hand in hand with each country to advance prosperity for their people."
MCC's Board selected former compact partner Cabo Verde as eligible to develop a regional compact in recognition of the country's clear commitment to democratic governance and its significant development and poverty reduction challenges. With this new partnership, MCC will support Cabo Verde in generating economic growth through deeper integration with the West Africa region.
Newly threshold-eligible, the Philippines and Tanzania are both former MCC compact partners that continue to face pressing development needs in strategic regions of the world. In recent years, both the Philippines and Tanzania have demonstrated renewed commitments to advancing critical reforms to strengthen democratic governance, protect human rights, and fight corruption. In recognition of these efforts, MCC's Board selected the Philippines and Tanzania to partner with MCC in the development of threshold programs that focus on the policy and institutional reforms countries can undertake to reduce poverty and generate economic growth.
As part of its annual discussion on country selection, MCC's Board also reviewed the policy performance of previously selected eligible countries. In doing so, MCC's Board reselected Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal to continue regional compact development; The Gambia, Togo, and Zambia to continue compact development; and Mauritania to continue developing a threshold program. The Board reaffirmed its support for continuing compact development in Belize. In addition, the Board reselected Sierra Leone as eligible to continue developing a compact in recognition of the progress made to advance the national dialogue process, begin implementation of the Agreement for National Unity, and establish the national election review committee. These actions constitute a critical beginning of an inclusive process to strengthen Sierra Leone's democratic and electoral institutions following the June 2023 elections. In making its re-selection decision, the Board noted its expectation of continued progress toward meaningful electoral reform, as outlined in the Agreement for National Unity, prior to considering approval of the proposed compact.
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