Washington DC - Far-right billionaire Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency on Wednesday ordered the closure of a US agency that invested billions in African and other developing countries' infrastructure.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) will immediately exit projects around the world, from building roads to modernizing electricity grids, likely leaving the works under construction unless other partners step in.

An MCC executive at a staff meeting on Wednesday told staff that "we are coming to an orderly close" with all programs to be discontinued, according to an employee who was present.

The meeting came after a staff-wide memo, seen by AFP, informed that DOGE was imposing a "significant reduction" at MCC and laid out practicalities for the majority of staff who will lose jobs.

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Founded in 2004 under former president George W. Bush with bipartisan support, MCC signs contracts for investment in developing countries that meet what the US defined as economic transparency and good governance.

MCC has since invested $17 billion with numerous prominent projects underway.

Just in October, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema vowed to keep upholding "shared values" with the US as he signed a half-billion-dollar agreement to improve roads, irrigation and electricity.

President Donald Trump has made clear he has limited interest in sub-Saharan Africa and that he opposes development aid, which he sees as not directly benefiting the US. His new term began with an all-out assault on the US Agency for International Development.

An MCC employee, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid retribution, said the organization differed significantly from USAID.

"We're not doing humanitarian assistance. We're not doing social justice. We're very much building up an environment for private-sector investment in foreign economies," she told AFP.

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"This is a very different thing, something that actually does put America first," she said.

"It's interesting, if we're worried about China's influence in the world, that we would shutter MCC, which builds large-scale infrastructure that counters China's influence."

MCC will inform countries on Friday that compacts will be terminated within 40 days, the staffer said.

After negotiations with Musk's team, MCC was allowed extensions in four countries – Ivory Coast, Mongolia, Nepal, and Senegal – with hopes of making construction sites safe.

The goal is "so someone is not going to fall into a pit or something," the employee said. "Whether or not we'll be successful, I don't know."

Elizabeth Hoffman, executive director for North America at ONE, the anti-poverty group co-founded by U2 singer Bono, voiced alarm at the shutdown.

"MCC brings an innovative and entrepreneurial approach to development assistance that holds governments accountable and effectively counters malign foreign influences like China," she said.