PH not eligible for US grant in 2021
The United States’ Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) has given the Philippines a failing mark in control of corruption, hence disqualifying the country from grants to be extended by the aid agency to developing countries next year.
The Philippines’ scorecard for fiscal year 2021 showed that, similar to its 2020 results released last year, the country passed 12 out of the 20 indicators: fiscal policy, inflation, regulatory quality, trade policy, gender in the economy, and land rights and access (in the area of “economic freedom”); political rights, civil liberties, and government effectiveness (in “ruling justly”); as well as natural resource protection, girls’ secondary education enrollment rate and child health (in “investing in people”).
As such, the Philippines’ scores in access to credit and business startup (in economic freedom); control of corruption, rule of law, and freedom of information (in ruling justly), and health expenditures, primary education expenditures, and immunization rates (in investing in people), remained in the red.
The scores in control of corruption and rule of law were based on the World Bank and Brooking Institution’s latest Worldwide Governance Indicators.
“To be considered for an MCC compact, countries are expected to first pass MCC’s scorecard, passing at least 10 of the 20 indicators, including the political rights or civil liberties indicator, and the control of corruption indicator. This year, 25 of the 78 countries for which MCC created scorecards passed the scorecard, while 53 countries did not,” it said in a Nov. 9 statement.
The MCC noted in its Philippines scorecard that while the country failed in the control of corruption category, it passed more than half of the indicators while also getting a green mark in democratic rights (political rights and civil liberties).
The 25 countries that passed the scorecard were Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Kenya, Krygyz Republic, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, Togo, Zambia, Bhutan, Cabo Verde, Ghana, India, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Mongolia, Sao Tome and Principe, Sri Lanka, and Tunisia. —Ben O. de Vera INQ
