With the United States under heavy international pressure to double aid to poor countries, President Bushs Millennium Challenge Account is facing severe cuts in its proposed budget, intense criticism from African leaders and the departure of its director after only a year in the job, reports the World Bank press review.
On Thursday, a House subcommittee recommended almost halving the presidents 3 billion US dollar (18 milliarder DKR) request for next year.
On Wednesday, Paul V. Applegarth, who has run the fledgling agency for the last year, told his staff he would be leaving; and on Monday, leaders of five African nations complained forcefully to the US president about what they saw as the extremely slow pace of grant making.
This weeks series of unfortunate events contrasts with the soaring hopes the president voiced when announcing plans for the Account more than three years ago.
Over the last two years, US Congress has appropriated (afsat) 2,5 billion dollar for the Account, but the corporation that oversees it has approved compacts with four nations for only 610 million. To date, the agency has spent only 400.000 dollar.
But Applegarth and some of the programs champions in Congress say the agency started from scratch only 16 months ago and has accomplished a great deal in a short time, building a staff and picking eligible countries and helping them develop antipoverty strategies.
Applegarth said the agency would be 1 billion dollar (6 mia. DKR) short of what it needed to finance proposals it had from 16 of the 17 countries eligible for big grants, 8 of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
He added the agency needed the full 3 billion dollar that Bush asked for this year or risked losing credibility with the poor countries that the US hoped would make hard decisions to improve their governing skills to qualify for grants.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
