Liberia Secures U.S.$256 Million American Grant

The Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has approved US$256.7 million grant to Liberia under the Millennium Challenge Compact program.

The grant was approved during the MCC Board’s annual meeting held on September 7, in Washington D.C and chaired by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

The Board’s approval now paves the way for the formal signing of a bi-lateral agreement (to be known as the Liberia Compact) between the Liberian and U.S. governments to be held in the United States by October.

It will fund projects in electricity, road maintenance, reforms and capacities building and also replace the damaged water supply line from Mt. Coffee Hydro Plant to the White Plains Water Treatment Plant.

Finance and Development Planning Minister Amara M. Konneh will sign on behalf of the Government of Liberia, while Ms. Dana Hyde, CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, will sign on behalf of the US Government.

Upon signing, the Compact will be submitted to the Liberian National Legislature for ratification.

The Liberian government, through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, has welcomed the news and praised the U.S. Government for the Compact Grant, noting that it will significantly impact the lives of ordinary Liberians through poverty reduction, job creation and economic growth.

The Finance Ministry noted that Liberia’s road to the Compact began in 2008 with the Threshold Country Program through which the U.S. Government provided US$15 million grant to support the Liberian government’s interventions to increase girls’ primary education completion, land rights and access, and to improve Liberia’s trade policy, all of which have contributed to Liberia’s recovery.

The Compact program is competitive, and requires countries to meet key indicators relevant to economic and political governance. These include ‘Governing Justly’, which measures the protection of civil rights including the right to free speech; and ‘Control of Corruption’, measuring government’s transparency and accountability in public financial management. Liberia continues to make progress on those and other key indicators, in spite of the many challenges.

Meanwhile MFDP has disclosed that MCC CEO Hyde has telephoned President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to inform her of the MCC Board’s decision and congratulated her for Liberia’s success in securing the MCC Compact Grant.

The MCC Board has also approved a Compact Grant with Morocco and a Threshold Program with Sierra Leone.