The United States has announced $7.4 million will be provided to Sri Lanka through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) as part of a program to “reduce poverty and promote economic opportunity” on the island.
A visiting delegation from the MCC led by Fatema Z. Sumar, Regional Deputy Vice President for Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America, visited Colombo this week to make the announcement.
“We are pleased to announce LKR 1.1 billion ($7.4 million) in funding that the Millennium Challenge Corporation is providing now to support the development of a compact, including identifying and analyzing specific projects for potential investment,” said Ms Sumar said.
The $7.4 million is in addition to the total MCC compact funding amount, a US embassy press release added.
Last December Sri Lanka was approved to receive aid from the MCC, through a "full compact", which is set to release funding for over $900 million.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office is overseeing work on the MCC.
“MCC holds partner countries accountable through rigorous oversight, monitoring and evaluation,” said the US press release.
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