Congo Town – President George Weah has raised concern over persisting hardship Liberia’s current economic condition continues to impose on citizens.
Report by Willie N. Tokpah, [email protected] & Alline Dunbar, [email protected]
President Weah said his government has exercised all efforts to address economic challenges confronting his administration but to no avail.
“In the 18 months since my incumbency, we have exercised our best efforts as a government to address these issues, yet, many continue to present challenges,” President Weah admitted.
Nevertheless, he believes an economic dialogue could serve as the best option for finding a solution to address prevailing economic constraints under his leadership.
At the launch of a three-day National Economic Dialogue at the Ministerial Complex in Congo Town Wednesday, September 4, President Weah said these challenges result from a broken economic, coupled with structural changes that his administration inherited.
However, he noted that, as these challenges continue to pose negative impacts on micro-economic, it is incumbent on his administration to make the necessary adjustments that will find a lasting solution to Liberia’s broken economy.
These issues according to him, “ranged from liquidity, persistence decline in the value of Liberia Dollars, compounded by reducing inflows of foreign exchange and investments, all of which place upward pressure on inflation.”
He said it had been his wish since his first state of the Nation’s Address that Liberians join efforts by his administration to tackle not other economic challenges, but work on other choices that will lead to changes that will have positive effects.
“Again in June of this year, in another address to the nation, I said that my government does not have a monopoly on ideas, and I acknowledged that it will take the collective efforts of all Liberians to achieve the desired objective of reviving the economy on a path of sustainable development transformation,” Weah asserted.
“I therefore urged all Liberians to work with our administration to devise and support new measures which could successfully address the structural defects and imbalances in our economy.”
The Liberian leader further expressed delight over the caliber of panelists selected for the dialogue and is hopeful that findings and recommendations will support and enhance the attainment of the goals and objectives of Liberia’s development plan, the Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD).
The National Economic Dialogue, which is apart of ongoing efforts in support of the PAPD, held under the theme; “National Economic Revival and Growth: Critical Issues, Challenges, and Way Forward.”
It is organized by the National Economic Dialogue Secretariat with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and partners.
It focuses on critical national issues to include, public finance mobilization and management, investment promotion and private sector growth, youth unemployment and skills development as well as peacebuilding and reconciliation, all aims at moving Liberia forward.
It is expected that the dialogue set up a time-bound roadmap for a nationwide consensus on short and medium-term policy measures, strategies, programs.
Giving the ‘Goodwill Message,’ UNDP Resident Representative, Pa Lamin Beyai, stated that the Liberian economy will rapidly recover if everyone worked together, stating that the challenges the economy faced cannot be underestimated.
“This is why the National Economic Dialogue is crucial in better understanding the problems and on the overall finding the way forward,” Mr. Beyai stressed.
Also sharing his expert knowledge in Public Finance Mobilization and Management, former Finance Minister Nathaniel Barnes advised that Liberians must consider what they want, what they must do and must be willing to tackle the numerous economic challenges.