A big turnaround: Liberia passes MCC

News triggering in says Liberia has historically passed the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) scoring 12 out of 20 indicators and is thus eligible for consideration for a compact, after failing miserably in 2021.

The annual MCC Scorecard measures a country’s commitment to just and democratic governance, investing in its people, and economic freedom.  The indicators measure countries’ broad policy frameworks for encouraging poverty reduction through economic growth. A country needs to pass just 10 out of 20 indicators to pass the scorecard.

According to the MCC official website, for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23), Liberia has successfully passed 12 out of 20 indicators, the most indicators passed by the country ever since the MCC began publishing the scorecard in 2008.

Specifically, Liberia’s tremendous improvement in the scorecard is driven by a number of factors, including improved inflation from a high of 29% in 2020 to 7.8% in the new scorecard; 100 percent “Employment Opportunity” on the MCC new indicator, which measures a country’s commitment to ending forced labor, preventing employment discrimination, and protecting the rights of workers and people with disabilities.

For only the second time since 2008, Liberia passed the “Rule of Law” indicator, principally driven by ongoing unrelenting efforts in the fight against Human Trafficking.

Other success areas include strong performance on the Democratic rights indicators, including “Control of Corruption”.  This also includes the country’s continued high performance on “Political Rights”, receiving 88 percent score, indicating that Liberia is committed to holding free and fair elections in 2023, and upholding rights of political parties, and participation of all in the political process.

Following challenges with Trade Policy, the country once again passed the Trade Policy Indicator with a 74 percent score. 

Liberia’s FY23 Scorecard indicates that the country is exceeding the MCC requirements and committed to democratic governance and poverty reduction.

Despite these successes however, this does not automatically

 mean that Liberia will receive a compact. There are a total of 66 eligible countries this year, and typically only a small handful get selected for compacts.

In selecting countries as eligible for a subsequent compact, the MCC Board will consider, among other factors, a country’s policy performance over time using the standard indicator methodology; the opportunity to reduce poverty and generate economic growth; the availability of funds; and the country’s performance implementing its previous compact, including evidence of a commitment to further reform. 

The Board will also consider the nature of the country’s partnership with the MCC, including degree to which it has demonstrated a commitment and capacity to achieve program results, and the degree to which it has implemented its previous or existing compact in accordance with MCC’s policies and standards. 

Often, countries must pass the scorecard for multiple years before being selected, and this is the first time Liberia has passed in many years.  Read full scorecard inside.

Compiled By Jonathan Browne