The Millennium Challenge Corporation — a U.S. development agency — may be next on the Trump administration’s chopping block.
Staffers received an email on Tuesday that said: “While the Foreign Assistance Review has not yet concluded, we understand from the DOGE team there will soon be a significant reduction in the number of MCC’s programs and relatedly the agency’s staff.” DOGE refers to the Department of Government Efficiency, which is run by billionaire Elon Musk and is behind the shuttering of the U.S. Agency for International Development, once a $40-billion-per-year agency that employed over 10,000 people worldwide.
While the extent of MCC cuts wasn’t detailed in the email, there is uncertainty about the future of the agency, and rumors swirled on Wednesday that it could be effectively shuttered, several sources tell Devex. The agency has invested nearly $17 billion in 47 countries in the past 20 years, aimed at improving economic growth. It has an annual budget of about $900 million.
About the author
Adva Saldinger@AdvaSal
Adva Saldinger is a Senior Reporter at Devex where she covers development finance, as well as U.S. foreign aid policy. Adva explores the role the private sector and private capital play in development and authors the weekly Devex Invested newsletter bringing the latest news on the role of business and finance in addressing global challenges. A journalist with more than 10 years of experience, she has worked at several newspapers in the U.S. and lived in both Ghana and South Africa.
