MCC Board of Directors Approves $24.7 Million Agreement with Moldova for Support of Anti-Corruption Initiatives

Washington, DC – Moldova is poised to accelerate government efforts to curb corruption following today’s approval of a $24.7 million grant by the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

The Government of Moldova initiated a national anti-corruption strategy in December 2004. To implement this strategy, Moldova has focused its efforts on enactment of numerous laws, including amendments to the criminal code and new laws on political party financing, conflict of interest, public procurement, and a code of ethics for public servants. MCC Threshold funding will address areas where corruption persists, including in the judiciary, the health care system, and the tax, customs and police agencies.

MCC funds will also provide training, and technical assistance to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to monitor government anti-corruption reform efforts and establish a public-private working group to issue recommendations to increase the role of mass media in monitoring anti-corruption reforms. In January 2006, an alliance of NGOs was formed to bring greater public attention to the issue of corruption.

“Moldova’s effort to curb government corruption shows great potential, and it is my hope that the initiative will garner broad public support,” said MCC CEO Ambassador John Danilovich. “Key to the success of these efforts is the participation of civic groups and citizen activists who witness corruption on a daily basis, and whose work is crucial to successful implementation of the reforms.”

MCC’s Threshold Program is designed to assist countries on the “threshold” of Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) eligibility for Compact assistance. Threshold countries must demonstrate a commitment to undertaking reforms designed to address specific policy weaknesses that are central to MCA eligibility criteria and methodology.

MCC measures policies in all eligible and candidate countries using 16 independent and transparent benchmarks, or indicators, which have a demonstrated link to poverty reduction and economic growth. These indicators measure a country’s demonstrated commitment to policies that promote, among other things, political and economic freedom, investments in education and health care, control of corruption, and respect for civil liberties and the rule of law. MCC was designed to reward good performance and also to create incentives for countries to adopt good policies that create a foundation for poverty reduction and economic growth.

To date, the MCC Board has approved more than $286 million under the Threshold Program for eleven countries: Albania, Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Jordan, Malawi, Moldova, Paraguay, Philippines, Tanzania, Ukraine and Zambia. In addition, MCC has signed Compacts totaling more than $2.1 billion with nine countries: Madagascar, Cape Verde, Honduras, Nicaragua, Georgia, Armenia, Vanuatu, Benin and Ghana. MCC is also actively engaging with other eligible countries to assist them in Compact development.

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Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government corporation designed to work with some of the poorest countries in the world, is based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom, and investments in people that promote economic growth and elimination of extreme poverty.