SL reviews progress of US$ 700mn grant with Millennium Challenge Corporation

Minister Mangala Samaraweera in discussion with MCC Regional Deputy Vice President for Europe, Asia, Pacific and Latin America, Fatema. Z. Sumar

Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera met with Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) Regional Deputy Vice President for Europe, Asia, Pacific and Latin America, Fatema. Z. Sumar to review the progress of its 5-year ‘Grant Compact’ to Sri Lanka.

The meeting took place in Washington on the sidelines of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund annual meeting, which concluded this weekend. 

In December 2016, MCC’s director board selected Sri Lanka to develop a compact. Sri Lanka became eligible for assistance after passing 13 out of 20 indicators on MCC’s policy scorecard. 

MCC is an independent agency working to reduce global poverty through economic growth. 
Sri Lanka is at the receiving end of approximately US$ 700 million within a period of 5 years from the MCC to invest in three priority areas— policy stability, access to land and transport.

A delegation from the U.S. government’s MCC led Sumar, visited Colombo in July to advance progress on the development of the MCC compact—a 5-year grant programme—with the Sri Lankan government that aims to reduce poverty and promote economic opportunity for Sri Lankans. The visit saw MCC signing a MoU with Treasury Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga. Thereafter, MCC announced Rs.1.1 billion (US$7.4 million) in funding to Sri Lanka to support the development of a compact, including identifying and analyzing specific projects for potential investment.

The Sri Lankan government has established a project management unit—the Sri Lankan Compact Development Team—within the Prime Minister’s office to work with MCC on the compact.  The goal is to develop a high-quality, evidence-based and sustainable compact aimed at addressing these economic challenges in a way that drives growth and reduces poverty. 

MCC holds partner countries accountable through rigorous oversight, monitoring and evaluation.