Since its creation, MCC has relied on the World Bank’s GNI per capita income data (Atlas method) and the World Bank’s Historical IDA Eligibility ceiling  to divide countries into two income categories for purposes of creating scorecards: Low Income Countries (LICs) and Lower Middle Income Countries (LMICs).  These categories are used to account for the unfair income bias that occurs when countries with more per-capita resources perform better than countries with fewer. Using the historical IDA eligibility ceiling for the scorecards ensures that the poorest countries compete with their income level peers and are not compared against countries with more resources to mobilize.

Scorecard categories

In order to maintain relative performance stability on the eligibility scorecards and reduce income bias, MCC will continue to use the traditional income categories on the FY13 scorecards. As outlined in the FY13 Selection Criteria and Methodology Report, this means MCC continues to use the historical IDA eligibility ceiling to divide countries into two groups for scorecard comparisons.

• Scorecard LICs are countries with GNI per capita below the historical IDA eligibility ceiling ($1,945 for FY13).
• Scorecard LMICs are countries with GNI per capita above the historical IDA eligibility ceiling but below the World Bank’s upper middle income country threshold ($1,946 - $4,035 for FY13).

The list of countries categorized as LICs and LMICs for the purpose of scorecard assessments follows.

Low Income Countries (FY13 Scorecard)

Lower Middle Income Countries (FY13 Scorecard)

* Countries with asterisks are statutorily prohibited from receiving assistance from MCC in FY13.

Funding categories

Apart from this, a statutory change requested by MCC in December 2011 altered the way the agency groups countries in determining whether MCC’s 25 percent LMIC funding cap applies. This change, designed to bring stability to the funding stream, affects how MCC funds countries selected as eligible and does not affect the way scorecards are created. For determining whether a country can be funded as an LMIC or LIC:

• The poorest 75 countries are now considered low income for the purposes of MCC funding. They are not limited by the 25percent funding cap on lower middle income countries.
• Countries with a GNI per capita above the poorest 75 but below the World Bank’s upper middle income country threshold ($4,035 in FY13) are considered lower middle income countries for the purposes of MCC funding. By law, MCC can spend no more than 25percent of funds in these countries.

MCC listed countries in the FY13 Candidate Country Report as LIC and LMIC based on this new definition. These categories outline which countries are subject to the 25 percent funding cap.

Read

• Selection Criteria and Methodology Report, FY 2013
  Selection Criteria and Methodology Report
• Candidate Country Report, FY 2013
  Candidate Country Report