Ghana likely to get between $350m-$400m for second MCC compact – US gov’t
Ghana is likely to get between $350 million and $400 million as the second tranche of the Millennium Challenge Compact (MCC), according to the US Foreign Assistance Dashboard updated December 2, 2011.
The Foreign Assistance Dashboard provides a view of U.S. Government foreign assistance funds and enables users to examine, research, and track aid investments in a standard and easy-to-understand format.
Late October 2011, when Mr Patrick Fine, Vice President of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, paid a visit to Ghana, he told reporters that Ghana’s power sector will receive a higher part of the funds from the second compact if a final decision is taken by the MCC’s Board of Directors on the country’s eligibility for the funds in December this year.
The US President, Barack Obama, in his 2012 Fiscal Year budget, requested $1.125 billion for the MCC, which Mr Fine told the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights on May 10, 2011 that the requested funds would enable the Corporation to sign compacts with Ghana and Georgia, as well as fully fund a compact with Indonesia.
The Dashboard showed that the anticipated compact amount for Indonesia was $600 million. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) on November 18, 2011 signed the five-year, $600 million compact with the Government of Indonesia in a ceremony, which took place on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Bali, Indonesia.
In August 2006, Ghana signed for the first compact for an amount of $547 million, making it the third biggest beneficiary of the compact in the world after Tanzania ($698 million) and Morocco ($697million), according to the MCC’s website.
The first compact ends February 15, 2012.
MCC compacts are large, five-year grants that support poverty reduction through economic growth.
Compact investments are designed to address key constraints to growth in partner countries, and are selected based on their promise for raising incomes among the poor.
Jeanne Clark, the Information Officer at the US Embassy in Accra confirmed to ghanabusinessnews.com on the phone that indeed, the anticipated amount is between $350 million and $400 million. She added that Ghana’s eligibility stretches between December 2011 and December 2012, indicating that the Compact will be signed in 2013.
Mr. Martin Eson-Benjamin, CEO of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), also confirmed the development and reiterated that the amount is not a final amount. “It could go up or it could come down,” he told ghanabusinessnews.com on the phone.
He however, urged Ghanaians to be careful not to jeopardize the country’s chances of attaining eligibility, by upsetting the current peaceful political atmosphere in the country. He explained that eligibility is factored around three thematic areas. These he said are; Good governance and democratic practice; Economic empowerment of the people, which he asked to be deepened and Public-Private-Partnership sector relations which must be enhanced to expand the people’s economic freedom.
Mr. Esson-Benjamin urged government to level the playing field for all Ghanaians, citing examples like the Capitation Grant, improvement of water supply and energy and so on which could enhance Ghana’s chances of gaining eligibility.
He also indicated that when Ghana passes the eligibility mark, the Compact will be signed around August 2013.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi & Ekow Quandzie