The Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC’s) board of directors is scheduled to meet on December 16. When it does, the members will vote on which countries will be eligible for MCC assistance for fiscal year (FY) 2016. As always, the board is faced with some hard decisions. Three conditions are notable during this year’s selection process: scarce resources, a new MCC selection process, and fierce competition among countries.
CGD’s Rethinking US Development Policy Initiative predicts that the MCC board will likely newly select Côte d’Ivoire for eligibility for a first compact; may select India (for specific, limited purposes) or Kosovo for a first compact; will likely reselect Nepal and Niger to continue developing their first compacts; will likely newly select Senegal for a second compact; will likely reselect the Philippines to continue second compact development; may reselect Lesotho and Tanzania to continue developing their second compacts, but the final decision will likely depend on progress made toward resolving current political crises; will likely select Togo for new threshold program eligibility; and may select Sri Lanka for new threshold program eligibility.
