US denies Ghana foreign assistance under MCC for 2026 financial year

Ghana has been marked as ineligible for foreign assistance from the United States of America under the Millennium Challenge Compact for the 2026 Financial Year.

This is in accordance to the debt default restriction in section 7012 of the Financial Year 2025 SFOAA, pending a debt restructuring agreement.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation captured this revelation in its Candidate Country Report for Fiscal Year 2026.

It reported that “Ghana is ineligible to receive foreign assistance pursuant to the debt default restriction in section 7012 of the FY [Financial Year] 2025 SFOAA pending a debt restructuring agreement”.

It also added that “Ghana is among 18 countries that would be considered candidate countries for purposes of eligibility for MCC compact assistance for FY 2026, but are ineligible to receive United States economic assistance under part I of the Foreign Assistance Act”.

The report is based on legal prohibitions against economic assistance applied by August 6, 2025.

According to the report, “Countries identified above as candidate countries, as well as countries that would be considered candidate countries but for the applicability of legal provisions that prohibit U.S. economic assistance, may be the subject of future statutory restrictions or determinations, or changed country circumstances, that affect their legal eligibility for assistance under part I of the Foreign Assistance Act by reason of application of the Foreign Assistance Act or any other provision of law for FY 2026”.

Other countries also marked as ineligible to receive the foreign assistance under the Millennium Challenge Compact are Burkina Faso, Syria, Burma, Sri Lanka, North Korea, Zimbabwe and Venezuela.