Mozambique improves in MCC selection scorecards

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique improves in MCC selection scorecards

3:34 CAT | 08 Nov 2023

Screen grab: MCC

Mozambique improved in the country scorecards released by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), going from negative nine in the previous year to five in the assessment released today by the US government external support agency, improving in Freedom of Information, among other metrics.

According to the MCC country scoredcards for the fiscal year 2024 (FY24 Country Scorecards), released on Tuesday)Novemebr 7), with data from independent organisations essentially referring to the year 2022, Mozambique does maintain a “red” negative assessment in the areas of Fiscal Policy (42% assessment), Political Rights (score of 14 out of a positive minimum of 17), Land Rights and Access (41% rating), Immunisation Rates (35%) and Child Health (41%), as in the previous report.

Ecfreed.mcc_

Ecfreed1.mcc_

However, Mozambique secured a “green” positive rating in the areas of Rule of Law (52% rating), Girls Primary Education Completion Rates (56%) and Education Expenditures (97%).

Mozambique also improved in the Freedom of Information scorecard, in this case with data from 2023, passing a positive assessment, with a record of 70%, up from 48% in the 2023 fiscal year report.

Rulingj.mcc_

Inv.mcc_

The scorecards are compiled annually by the MCC from data provided by international organisations such as the World Bank, WHO, IMF, UNESCO and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), among others. They are a key component in MCC’s competitive country selection process, which determines which countries are eligible to develop a five-year grant agreement, known as a ‘Compact’, in the fiscal year 2024.

READ: Watch: U.S., Mozambique sign $537M Connectivity and Coastal Resilience Compact

In Washington on September 21, in the presence of head of state Filipe Nyusi, the Mozambican government signed with the MCC a second financing compact worth US$500 million.

The president of the MCC, Alice Albright, stated at the time that the US$500 million donation for connectivity and coastal resilience projects represents a “marking moment” in relations with Mozambique.

“We will help, we estimate, 15 million Mozambicans over the next 20 years in various aspects of daily life. We will help to improve fisheries, transport, agriculture and youth and women’s prospects,” Albright said after signing Mozambique’s second financing compact with Max Tonela, Mozambique’s Minister of Economy and Finance.

The ‘Mozambique Connectivity and Coastal Resilience Compact’ is financed with a US$500 million (€465.7 million) donation from the US government, to which is added the Mozambican government’s US%37.5 million (€35 million) contribution, mainly for improving transport networks in rural areas.

It will also encourage commercial agriculture through political and tax reforms and improve coastal livelihoods through climate resilience initiatives in the central province of Zambézia.

“The MCC is very selective with the countries it works with. We work with countries that are democracies, that seek to invest in people and improve their economies, and that is why launching this Compact is a remarkable moment in relations between the two countries,” Allbright further explained in statements to journalists after the signing of the agreement.

“The United States is incredibly proud of the relationship it has with Mozambique and my agency, which is part of the US government, and feels deeply honoured to be able to sign our second agreement with Mozambique. […] We started our first agreement in 2004 and will work on the second agreement in several areas, to help the country with some of the climate impacts [it faces],” the MCC president added.

Source: Lusa