| PM Says There's Still Slim Hope For 125M MCC Grant |
| Fri, May 9, 2025 |
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We have reported that the government will most likely not be seeing the 125 million US dollar grant from the US government's Millennium Challenge Corporation after the Department of Government Efficiency shut down the program last month. But the PM says all hope may not be lost. He told us what he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed in their phone call regarding the grant.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"We have not received an official response as yet and in my discussion with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he left the door slightly open in the sense that he said he's going to meet with the board. The MCC he said is not directly under his purview but he is the chairman of the board so he said they will be meeting and then have a discussion on whether they should finish the projects that have already started. Remember we were just starting so I don't know if we will be within that ambit. We hope that we will but we just have to wait and see."
Reporter:
"And if they're not continued, how will the government finish the projects?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"The point is that the MCC was not a part of the budget. They came here and we met with them and we did within record time manage to get a compact signed for 125 million USD of which 20% of it for energy and the rest for teaching. We already knew what were the challenges we face in the educational system so they would have been helping but now that they're not, then we have to look and see how we're going to find the money and start to make the adjustments within the educational system."
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