SL to receive $ 700 m from Millennium Challenge Corporation

Saturday, 14 October 2017 01:13 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Minister of Finance and Media Mangala Samaraweera met Fatema Z. Sumar, the Regional Deputy Vice President for Europe, Asia, Pacific and Latin America in the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), on the sidelines of the WB/IMF Annual Meeting, to review the progress of its Five-Year Grant Compact to Sri Lanka.

In December 2016, MCC’s Board of Directors 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.

Sri Lanka will receive approximately $ 700 million within a period of five years from the MCC to invest in three priority areas – policy stability, access to land, and transport.

MCC is an independent agency working to reduce global poverty through economic growth. MCC’s grants and assistance to Sri Lanka is an immense contribution to Sri Lanka’s efforts in advancing good governance, fighting corruption and in the protection and promotion of human rights. A delegation from the US Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) led by Sumar visited Colombo in July to advance progress on the development of the MCC compact—a five-year grant program—with the Government of Sri Lanka that aims to reduce poverty and promote economic opportunity for Sri Lankans.

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The 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.

The Sri Lankan delegation comprised Ministry of Finance and Media Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunge, Ministry of Finance Senior Advisor Mano Tittawella and Embassy of Sri Lanka in Washington D.C. Chargé d’affaires a.i. Prof. Gamini Keerawella.