-But fails Girls’ Primary Education, Child Health, Government Effectiveness, others
Contrary to its low performance over the last five years, Liberia has this year broken the glass-bar that prevented it from succeeding in the famous Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) scorecard, as the MCC 2024 scorecard shows that the country has passed 14 of the 20 indicators.
The 2024 Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) scorecard has been released for various countries including Liberia and it reveals that Liberia passed 14 and failed 6 out of the 20 indicators on the scorecard. The 14 indicators Liberia passed include- fiscal policy, Inflation, Trade Policy, Gender in the Economy, Land Rights and Access, Access to Credit, Employment Opportunity, Political Rights, Civil Liberties, Control of Corruption, Rule of Law, Freedom of Information, Health Expenditures, immunization Rates.
Meanwhile, the six indicators the country failed are: Regulatory Quality, Government Effectiveness, Education Expenditures, Natural Resource Protection, Girls’ Primary Education Completion Rate and Child Health. MCC requires that a country is considered to have passed the Scorecard if it passes at least 10 of the 20 indicators, with at least one pass in each of the three categories if the country passes either the Political Rights or Civil Liberties indicator and passed the Control of Corruption indicator.
In the 2024 MCC Scorecard recently released, Liberia passed 14 out of the 20 indicators which is more than half and passed at least one indicator in all three categories. The country passed both the Political Rights and Civil Liberties and passed the Control of Corruption indicator. This means Liberia actually passed the MCC 2023 Scorecard.
Liberia is also among a list of countries in the low-income category that are eligible as candidates for the Millennium Challenge Compact for fiscal year 2024. However, being eligible does not mean a country has automatically gotten the MCC compact grant. The MCC Board looks at three legislatively mandated factors when it evaluates any candidate country for compact eligibility.
These factors are policy performance, the opportunity to reduce poverty and generate economic growth, and the availability of MCC funds. As it stands, the country is in a little better position than before as it passed 14 out of the 20 indicators with passes in all three categories.
Liberia joined the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in 2006 under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s leadership; since then, the country has been a part of the program. Under the presidency of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia passed the scorecards on two occasions, in 2013 and 2017.
After passing the MCC in 2013, the Government of Liberia and the United States Government, through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Liberia in October 2015, signed a US$257million compact with a direct focus on rebuilding the country’s broken electricity sector and the construction of a new 48-inch diameter Raw Water Pipeline between Mt. Coffee and the White Plains Water Treatment Plant to replace a damaged 36-inch diameter pipeline that had not been in use since Liberia’s civil war. The benefits from this compact ended on January 20, 2021.
Under the George Weah-led administration, the country performed dismally in the 2022 U.S. Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) program after it failed 11 of the 20 indicators.
Last year’s discouraging performance marked the fifth year in a row that the Liberian Government failed to make a pass in the MCC scorecard, and in the process, missed out on securing a second compact from the MCC – an amount in the tune of at least US$500 million dollars.
Created by the U.S. Congress in January 2004 with strong bipartisan support, MCC partners with the world’s poorest countries that are committed to just and democratic governance, economic freedom and investing in their populations.
Investing in well-governed countries is the most effective use of development dollars and incentivizes reform even before a country is selected to partner with MCC. MCC provides time-limited grants promoting economic growth, reducing poverty, and strengthening institutions.
These investments in core infrastructure and policy and institutional reforms are key interventions that are improving the lives of nearly 270 million people across 46 countries and five continents.
MCC investments support stability and prosperity in partner countries all while furthering American interests. With cost-effective and transparent projects, a lean staff, and an evidence-based approach, MCC ensures American tax-payer dollars are well spent and go to countries that share our values.
