Monrovia — Liberia has stepped up efforts to attract private capital from the United States and other international markets, presenting investment opportunities spanning mining, energy, agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing and digital development at a high-level Liberia Investment Dialogue held on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.
The investment roundtable, organized by Madam MacDella M. Cooper and co-organized by New Africa Capital, brought together senior Liberian government officials, advisers, private-sector investors and investment intermediaries to explore ways of converting Liberia’s economic opportunities into concrete investments.
Unlike conventional conferences centered on lengthy presentations and panel discussions, organizers structured the session as a direct investment dialogue focused on partnerships, follow-up actions and measurable results.
The message was clear: Liberia is seeking investors prepared to move beyond discussions and into implementation.
Finance and Development Planning Minister Augustine K. Ngafuan presented Liberia’s improving macroeconomic position, describing the country as stable, reforming and increasingly open to private-sector investment.
The International Monetary Fund has projected Liberia’s real GDP growth at about 5.5 percent in 2026, with mining, construction and manufacturing identified among the key drivers. The IMF also reported that inflation averaged about 4.5 percent during the first half of 2026, while the Liberian dollar remained broadly stable.
The government’s recent announcement that domestic revenue collections had surpassed US$1 billion was also highlighted as an indicator of growing fiscal capacity.
President Joseph Nyuma Boakai said the milestone marked the first time in Liberia’s history that domestic revenue had exceeded US$1 billion in a single year without borrowing or foreign aid.
For investors, government officials emphasized that the objective extends beyond economic growth to job creation and expansion of productive capacity through agriculture, agro-processing, manufacturing, electricity, roads, ports, logistics and digital infrastructure.
A major public-private partnership road project valued at more than US$360 million was cited as an example of the scale of private-sector participation the government hopes to attract.
Mining: Beyond Extraction
Mining emerged as one of the most significant areas of investment opportunity.
The Minister of Mines and Energy outlined Liberia’s established iron ore, gold and diamond industries while pointing to significant areas that remain underexplored because of gaps in detailed geological and geoscientific data.
Investors were encouraged to look beyond traditional mineral exports toward critical and industrial minerals, including tin, tantalum, lithium, rare earth elements, bauxite and coastal heavy mineral sands.
The government also stressed the need to move the mining sector up the value chain—from extraction and export toward processing, beneficiation, technology transfer and local industrial development.
The presentation positioned Liberia’s mineral resources not only as a source of government revenue but also as a potential foundation for broader industrialization.
Energy as a Gateway to Industrialization
Energy was repeatedly linked to Liberia’s industrial ambitions.
The government highlighted a national target of reaching approximately 75 percent electricity access by 2030, supported by an estimated 100,000 new connections annually.
Liberia’s hydropower and river potential, including opportunities along the St. Paul and Sindon River corridors, were presented as part of the country’s broader energy investment case.
Officials, however, acknowledged that expanding generation alone will not resolve Liberia’s electricity deficit.
Significant investment will also be required in transmission and distribution infrastructure to deliver electricity to communities, mines, factories and other major industrial users.
The investment pitch therefore extended beyond power generation to the entire electricity value chain.
Rail Infrastructure Takes Center Stage
Rail infrastructure was another major focus of the dialogue.
The approximately 240-kilometer Buchanan-Yekepa railway was presented as a strategic asset capable of supporting multiple mining operations and broader economic activity.
Government officials said Liberia is moving toward a National Rail Authority model intended to facilitate multi-user access to the railway.
The transition from the existing user-operator arrangement is expected to continue through 2029, with the stated objective of preventing the rail system from being effectively locked to a single mining operator and creating access for multiple users.
The discussion underscored the importance of transportation infrastructure to Liberia’s investment ambitions, particularly in the mining sector.
Agriculture: From Production to Processing
Agriculture also featured prominently in the discussions.
The Minister of Agriculture described the sector as one of Liberia’s largest potential engines of economic transformation, emphasizing opportunities across the agricultural value chain.
The discussions covered land access, agricultural financing, productivity, processing, storage, transportation and market access.
Government officials encouraged investors to look beyond primary agricultural production toward agro-processing and value addition, where greater employment and domestic economic benefits could potentially be generated.
A Push for Private Capital
The New York dialogue comes as the Liberian government intensifies engagement with international investors and development partners during the UN General Assembly period.
The government has increasingly emphasized electricity, infrastructure, private-sector growth and responsible investment as central elements of its development strategy.
The dialogue was therefore intended to serve as a bridge between Liberia’s economic policy ambitions and the international capital needed to finance them.
Among those attending were Amb. Jeanine Coope, Chief Executive Officer of the Liberia Carbon Market Authority; Dr. Emmanuel K. Urey Yarkpawolo, Executive Director and CEO of the Environmental Protection Agency; Christian Dunbar, Senior Advisor to President Joseph Nyuma Boakai for Investment Financing and Development; Hon. Sekou M. Kromah, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications and Postmaster General; and Dr. Augustine Konneh, Senior Economic Advisor to President Boakai.
For the organizers, the central issue is no longer whether Liberia has investment opportunities, but how quickly those opportunities can be transformed into bankable projects, partnerships, financing commitments and jobs.
With mining, energy, agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing and digital development all on the table, Liberia’s pitch to American and international investors was a call to move from interest to implementation.
Organizers said the success of the dialogue should ultimately be measured not by attendance, but by how many investment discussions translate into projects on the ground in Liberia.
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