National Budget Increased from US$80M to US$370M

MONROVIA – President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has disclosed that since the ascendancy of the ruling Unity Party (UP) administration, the country’s national budget has increased from the US$80 million, when she took office, to over US$370 million.

The President made the statement on Monday, January 25, when she delivered the state of the nation message to the 52nd National Legislature on Capitol Hill in Monrovia.

The net foreign reserves position of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) at the end of December 2009, according to Madam Sirleaf, was US$226 million, compared with US$49.4 million at end of 2008, reflecting in part the allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) by the International Monetary Fund.

“And we have maintained the fiscal discipline of a cash-based expenditure regime,” the President added.

She stated that budgets and fiscal reports and procurement contracts are made available for public review and discussion.

Sirleaf recounted that when her administration came to power, the Central Bank’s reserves stood at roughly US$5 million. She added that the bank now has banking services in nine counties and will continue on this path until all of the counties have access to banking services.

The former African Development Bank (ADB) executive told the Legislature as well as thousands of Liberians in radio land that inflation has been kept under control to an average annual rate of 9.7 percent and exchange rate depreciation at 7.1 percent, a level comparable to neighboring regional countries.

The Liberian leader mentioned that her Government has negotiated the lifting of longstanding sanctions on timber and diamonds exports, allowing operations in those two sectors to resume.

In terms of food production, particularly rice, cassava and other staples, Sirleaf told the audience that there have been significant increases all over the country.

She added that reliable data is still being collected, but that preliminary figures show rice production at more than 200,000 metric tons, a 30 percent increase over previous periods.

Sirleaf further told the National Legislature that for the first time, the World Food Program (WFP) is buying rice from Liberian farmers to support the lunch feeding program in Liberian schools.

She told the huge crowd that goal of the government’s policy in the agricultural sector is to revitalize operations and activities that contribute to sustainable growth and development; to provide food security and nutrition; and to increase farmers’ employment and income, thereby measurably reducing poverty.