Monrovia— The National Youth Congress of the opposition Alternative National Congress(ANC) has launched a scathing attack on the proposed Fiscal Year 2026 National Budget, labeling the US$1.211 Billion Revenue Projection as a “political hallucination,” a “fiscal fraud” and a “betrayal of the people’s trust”.
By Francis G. Boayue
The ANC Youth Congress in its sixth State of the Youth Report held on Monday, December 1, 2025 questioned the government’s ability to raise the projected revenue, noting its failure to collect even US$880 million in 2025.
According to the youth chair, Alieu Kadia, the budget is built on “contingencies and illusions,” specifically pointing to an unratified US$200 million ArcelorMittal bonus and asset recovery funds that “exist only in the minds of corrupt officials”.
He said the report is “gambling with the nation’s future” and creating “fiscal space for looting, not for liberation”.
He, however, outlined several key failures and concerns regarding the FY2026 expenditure plan, calling it a “monument to elite self-preservation”.
“In 2025, over 50% of the national budget was consumed by wage bills and debt interest, while capital investment was a mere 12%.”
Failed Execution: The report highlights that capital allocation was “criminally under-executed” in 2025, with only 24% of non-financial assets and 45% of PSIP funds utilized.
Budgetary Deceit: While the Public Sector Investment Plan (PSIP) allocation appears to increase by 163% (from US$106 Million to US$281 million), non-financial assets have collapsed by 94%”.
This is described as “fiscal sabotage” and “inflated propaganda”.
“Sectoral Cuts vs. Expansion: The budget for agriculture is slashed by 18.4%, while the Public Administration budget balloons by 36.7%. The report condemned this as “gluttony in the face of hunger.”
“The ARREST Agenda Betrayal: Despite claims of alignment, the budget delivers less than 6% of the needed infrastructure funding and barely 10% of the required human capital investment. The Congress stated the FY2026 budget “arrests nothing but the truth” and is a recurrent-heavy plan “designed to feed the bureaucracy and starve the people”.
“Crippling Debt: Liberia’s public debt stands at US$2.7 Billion, with nearly one in every five dollars ($230 million) going to debt servicing. This practice is termed “economic suicide,” the ANC Youth Chair stressed.
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