MCC Releases Country Indicator Data Measuring Policy Performance

Malawi has maintained its generally good scores in the latest Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) country-by-country scorecard released Monday, November 10.  The data measure the policy performance of 93 developing countries that are candidates for grant assistance from the U.S. Government’s Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).

MCC uses third party objective data in three different policy categories: Ruling Justly, Encouraging Economic Freedom, and Investing in People.  The third party sources include: Freedom House, the International Finance Corporation, the International Monetary Fund, the World Health Organization, the World Bank Institute and the Heritage Foundation.

All scores on the scorecard are relative; Malawi is not just compared with its own performance last year, but with the performance of all countries with similar income levels. Last year, Malawi performed above the median score of low income countries on 13 of 17 indicators.  This year Malawi performed above the median on 14 indicators, adding primary education expenditures to the plus column.  Malawi continued to improve its score in fiscal policy, though it remains below the median. 

For a second year running, Malawi has scored above the median on the Control of Corruption indicator.  Public Affairs Officer John Warner said MCC considers control of corruption particularly important because corruption has a disproportionately large negative effect on the poor and it is detrimental to investment and economic growth, and as a result, MCC assesses that category individually.  If a country is below MCC’s performance standard for control of corruption, that country could become ineligible for MCC funding.  Apart from control of corruption, individual indicators are viewed in conjunction with others in the particular policy category, and to be eligible for assistance, a country must score above the median on at least half of the indicators in each of the three policy categories. 

“This is an ongoing process; the assessment is done on an annual basis.  This scorecard is not the end of the game, but an important step that keeps the process moving forward.  Malawi needs to maintain the progress that it has made and continue on that path and I think that what we see in this scorecard is steady progress in many areas,” said Warner. 

This scorecard will help inform MCC’s Board of Directors at its upcoming December meeting when the Board is expected to complete its annual selection of countries as eligible for MCC’s economic development assistance.

Malawi was selected as eligible for MCC Compact assistance in December 2007.  Following its selection for Compact eligibility, Malawi established a core team that is working in close coordination with MCC in Washington to develop its Compact proposal.