Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Alexia Latortue, announced on Tuesday at the U.S.-Africa Business Summit that the agency will sign more than $1 billion of new economic growth programs in Africa by the end of 2022, underscoring the agency’s work to support the tremendous infrastructure needs of countries through grant financing and policy reforms.
“By directly tackling a country’s toughest constraints to growth, building institutional capacity, and creating the right policy and legal environment for private investments, these programs will help unlock economic potential and reduce poverty,” said Latortue.
MCC currently has a total of $4.5 billion of investments slated for Africa—$3.1 billion in active compact and threshold programs and $1.4 billion of planned future programs. These potential new programs in Africa include:
- A proposed compact with Lesotho, focused on improving capital investments planning and execution and strengthen health systems.
- A proposed compact with Malawi, focused on developing accelerated growth corridors and improving land productivity.
- A proposed compact with Tunisia, which MCC’s Board of Directors approved in June 2021. The compact is designed to strengthen Tunisia’s transportation, trade, and water sectors.
The 13th annual U.S. Africa Business Summit also featured the launch of the Prosper Africa Build Together Campaign to elevate and energize U.S. – Africa trade and investment.
The Prosper Africa Build Together Campaign is a U.S. Government initiative to substantially increase two-way trade and investment between the United States and Africa. This targeted, yearlong effort is designed to bring together the full suite of services and resources from across the U.S. Government to empower businesses and investors with market insights, deal support, financing, and solutions to strengthen business climate.
“The Prosper Africa Build Together Campaign is a prime example of how the United States partners with African countries to support their development priorities,” said Latortue. “In particular, with MCC’s strong track record of delivering complex infrastructure on time and on budget—with good governance, transparency, inclusive planning and design, and high environmental, social and governance standards—MCC is well-positioned to support Prosper Africa, as well as the broader Build Back Better World initiative launched by the U.S. and G7 leaders in June.”
MCC is also partnering with Africa50 to develop and launch the Millennium Impact for Infrastructure Accelerator (MIIA) – Africa. Part of MCC’s broader blended finance strategy to mobilize private capital, this partnership will be a global project preparation platform designed catalyze impact investments in Africa by developing and preparing bankable infrastructure deals with measurable social and economic impacts.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation is an international development agency of the U.S. Government, working to reduce global poverty through economic growth. Created in 2004, MCC provides time-limited grants and assistance to countries that meet rigorous standards for good governance, fighting corruption and respecting democratic rights.