But will we receive the full $250 million?

BELIZE CITY, Wed. Aug. 20, 2025

After what seemed like four very long months, Prime Minister John Briceño today confirmed that they had received official communication informing them that Belize would get to keep its Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant. Belize officials had been raising the issue at every available opportunity with U.S. counterparts, following the Trump administration’s announcement in April of this year that all U.S. foreign aid would be suspended pending a comprehensive review. As an independent U.S. government aid agency, the MCC, established in 2004, came under review. There were immediate impacts on staff, many of whom were offered voluntary early retirement or deferred resignations. At the time, the prevailing sentiment was that Belize had seen the end of significant U.S. aid. The announcement was widely regarded as a major blow and some even speculated that it was a contributing factor to the delay in the presentation of Briceño’s 2025/2026 budget. However, PM Briceño never lost hope. Every time he was asked, he remained optimistic that Belize’s MCC grant would be reinstated.

Prior to the Trump administration’s sweeping announcement in April, the MCC’s program portfolio was valued at approximately US$18 billion. In fiscal year 2024 alone, the MCC had signed or launched agreements worth over US$2 billion. That year’s sum included the US$125 million which was being allocated to Belize. The signing of our MCC compact for energy and education projects took place on September 5 last year. 

Last week, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Francis Fonseca told the media that it looked “very promising that we will be able to preserve the MCC grant.” However, he cautioned that there would have to be modifications, as the terms of the compact would need to be amended. 

Now that word has been received that the grant will be preserved, the biggest question is whether the total amount to have been disbursed through the grant—BZ$250 million—will remain the same. Late this morning when Amandala reached out to the PM via WhatsApp, he told us they were awaiting the details. Later, when we spoke to Fonseca, he said the amount was also under discussion. He shared that the technical teams for the MCC and the government are meeting “to determine exactly what modifications will be made.” “We don’t expect any significant modifications, but I really don’t want to getahead of that discussion that’s taking place,” he said.

At the time of the signing of the Belize MCC compact, Belize officials remarked that the grant funding would be instrumental in transforming our educational system and reducing the high cost of electricity for Belizeans. The compact was developed over a period of two years.

At the end of July, Devex out of New York, reported that the MCC had been spared from the Department of Government Efficiency’s chopping block. However, though the aid agency survived Trump’s foreign assistance review, more than half of its programs are expected to be cancelled. On July 25, the MCC released a brief one-paragraph statement which read: “The Foreign Assistance Review for MCC’s portfolio is complete. MCC’s resulting portfolio will clearly align with the Trump Administration’s America First foreign policy and ensure that the agency continues to make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.  Additional details will be conveyed in the coming weeks following the MCC Board process as well as engagement with Congress and our partner countries.”

Devex cited Democrat senator, Jeanne Shaheen’s description of the termination of MCC programs as a gift to the United States’ adversaries that will end up undermining U.S. partnerships and ceding “geopolitical influence to China.”