The latest Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Country Scoreboard for low income countries shows Guyana receiving credible ratings for its commitment to policies that promote investment in the citizenry, in addition to political and economic freedom.
According to the MCC, the Scoreboard is based on the results of 17 independent and transparent indicators developed by third parties that measure countries’ demonstrated commitment to policies that promote political and economic freedom, investments in education and health care, control of corruption, and respect for civil liberties and the rule of law. The 17 indicators are broken down into three broad areas: “Ruling Justly,” “Investing in People” and “Encouraging Economic Freedom.”
Guyana was among 62 countries classified as a lower income country (LIC)—that is, according to the Scorebook, a country with a per capita income level equal to or less than US$1,855. In this group of countries, Guyana received high ratings for “Ruling Justly,” scoring high above the median score in most cases. When it came to “Political rights,” Guyana scored 31, while the median score was 18, and when it came to “Civil Liberties” it scored 42, above the median score of 29. These statistics were taken from Freedom House. The assessment on “Political Rights” was based on the presence of free and fair elections of officials with real power; the ability of citizens to form political parties that may compete fairly in elections; freedom from domination by the military, foreign powers, totalitarian parties, religious hierarchies and economic oligarchies and the political rights of minority groups. The panel assessed “civil liberties” on freedom of expression; association and organisational rights; rule of law and human rights; and personal autonomy and economic rights.
Regarding “Control of Corruption,” Guyana scored 0.30, which is above the median of 0.00. This took into consideration rates on the frequency of additional payments to get things done, the effects of corruption on the business environment, “grand corruption” in the political arena and the tendency of elites to engage in “state capture.” Guyana also scored 0.62 in “Government Effectiveness,” above the median of 0.00. Concerning the “Rule of Law,” Guyana scored 0.20 where the median score was 0.00, while under the category “Voice and Accountability” it also scored 0.83, over the median score of 0.00. These findings were based on statistics taken from the World Bank Institute.
The broad category of “Investing in People” includes: “Immunisation Rates,” “Health Expenditures,” “Primary Education Expenditures,” “Girls’ Primary Education Completion” and
“Natural Resource Management.” Guyana scored 94, over the median of 81.75 for the category “Immunisation Rates,” while it recorded a score of 4.61, above the median score of 2.25, for its “Health Expenditures.” These statistics, according to the MCC, came from the World Health Organisation.
The median score for “Primary Education Expenditures” was 1.61 and Guyana recorded a score of 2.06. For “Girls’ Primary Education Completion,” Guyana performed exceptionally, scoring 108.5, above the median of 66.5. The score of 73.60 Guyana achieved under the category of “Natural Resource Management” was also above the median, which stood at 61.61.
The broad category of “Economic Freedom” included “Regulatory Quality,” “Land Rights and Access,”
“Business Start-Up,” “Trade Policy,” “Inflation” and “Fiscal Policy.” The score of 0.08 achieved by Guyana for “Regulatory Quality” was above the median of 0.00 while the score of 0.815 recorded under “Land Rights and Access” was above the median of 0.612. With its score of 0.943, Guyana was above the median score of 0.918 when it came to “Business Start-Up.” It also scored above the 67.9 median for its “Trade Policy” with its score of 67.9. Under “Inflation,” Guyana scored 8.1, where the maximum was 15. Inflation took into consideration the most recent average annual change in consumer prices.
Guyana, however, scored poorly for its “Fiscal policy,” achieving a score of -8.5, when the median score was -1.4. The Fiscal Policy takes into consideration the overall budget balance divided by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), averaged over a three-year period. The data for this measure relied primarily on IMF country reports with input from U.S. missions in host countries or are provided directly by the government where IMF data are outdated or unavailable.
The MCC administers the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), funds for which are provided annually by the US Congress. Guyana has benefited from Threshold assistance from the MCA.
Threshold assistance helps countries to address specific areas of policy weakness indentified in the MCA selection indicators.
