Press Release

President Biden Requests $930 million for MCC in FY23

WASHINGTON (Mar. 28, 2022) – The Biden-Harris Administration submitted to Congress today the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, requesting $930 million for the U.S. government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to continue delivering on its mission to reduce poverty and foster economic growth in developing countries.

The President’s Budget request makes critical investments in the American people that will help lay a stronger foundation for shared growth and prosperity for generations to come. At MCC, the FY23 Budget request will support:

• Ongoing and projected compact implementation across eight countries, including Côte d’Ivoire, Mongolia, Morocco, Niger, and Senegal, as well as with partner countries facing governance, security, and mis- and disinformation challenges, such as Benin, Burkina Faso, and Nepal;
• Pre-Implementation work across five countries including Kosovo, Lesotho, Malawi, Timor-Leste, and Tunisia.
• Projected signings for two compacts and one threshold, including compacts in Indonesia and Mozambique and a threshold in Kiribati;
• Two projected concurrent regional compact programs focused on regional integration and trade: (1) the Benin-Niger Regional Transport Integration Program, and (2) the West Africa Regional Energy Interconnection Program;
• Ongoing threshold program implementation in The Gambia, Kenya, the Solomon Islands, and Togo;
• Development of a new compact or threshold programs using MCC’s data-driven, evidence-based methodology where MCC can have optimal effectiveness, with guidance from the MCC Board (as soon as December 2022); and,
• Administrative support of MCC operations, including pressing demands for management and oversight of approximately $7 billion in programs in different stages of development and implementation.

The President’s FY23 budget also includes three legislative requests that will better enable MCC to fulfill its congressionally-mandated mission. The requests are removing the cap of total funds MCC can use for lower-middle income countries, allowing MCC to pursue threshold programs with partner countries after completing a compact, and updating MCC’s annual reporting requirements.

These legislative requests are part of an ongoing strategic assessment of the agency as it approaches its 20th anniversary — called MCC@20. The goal of this assessment is to ensure the agency can meet the challenges and opportunities of this moment, while building on what makes MCC’s model distinct and valuable to partners countries and the U.S. government.

MCC’s operations are guided by its founding principles, which remain as relevant today as at the time of the agency’s creation 18 years ago. These principles are centered on a competitive selection process that reflects American values and the conditions for economic growth; a business-like approach with bedrock commitments to data, accountability, cost-benefit analysis, and evidence-based decisions; and a laser-focus on creating the right circumstances for private investment.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation is an independent U.S. government development agency working to reduce global poverty through economic growth. Created in 2004, MCC provides time-limited grants that pair investments in infrastructure with policy and institutional reforms to countries that meet rigorous standards for good governance, fighting corruption and respecting democratic rights.