Monrovia – Attainment of Liberia’s new national development plan – the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development (AAID), the last leg of the country’s Vision 2030 has been boosted on the promise of the new World Bank Group (WBG) Country Partnership Framework (CPF).
By Emmanuel Weedee-Conway
As the development plan of the Unity Party (UP) led government, the AAID aims to reset Liberia’s development model, foster genuine economic transformation, and lift the incomes of Liberians to roughly $1000 per capita, among other goals.
This, WBG says, it will partnership with Liberia over the next five years for the first major goal of building foundations for more and better jobs.
The disclosure was made by Madam Georgia Wallen, World Bank Country Manager for Liberia at the official launch of WBG Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Liberia.
The new Liberia CPF covers the Fiscal Years 2025 to 2030 and supports the country’s national vision, Liberia Rising 2030, a bold roadmap for peace, stability, and inclusive growth. The CPF will also support the ambitious new national development plan, including more and better jobs by focusing selectively on four essential outcome areas: education; energy access; accountable and transparent governance; and private investment – with focus on agroindustry and forestry.
Madam Wallen indicated job creation is being placed at the fulcrum of the Bank’s development agenda because it is the pathway to delivering the AAID and pursuing the WBG goals to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity on a livable planet.
According to her, WBG partnership is well positioned and squarely focused on deepening support in this area.
Second, she vowed that the Bank will focus on scaling up results in four key outcome areas tailored to the Liberian context and essential foundations for jobs.
These areas, Madam Wallen named are: reducing learning poverty, increasing energy access, promoting, transparent and accountable governance and increasing private investment – including in agroindustry and sustainable forest economies.
“Our program will focus on achieving results on these four outcomes. We will integrate resilience in all our efforts, including climate resilience, fiscal resilience, and social resilience – with focus on youth and women. All we do (from foundational learning; to investments in women’s economic empowerment; lighting up health centers; boosting access to digital services; promoting an SME Accelerator) will have a unified focus on laying foundations for jobs,” the WB Country Chief told the gathering.
Furthermore, she promised that the strategic partnerships will be decisive as the CPF was developed through dialogue and consultation with the Government of Liberia as well as development partners, youth, private sector representatives, academia and others.
“We started the CPF in a consultative way, and we will continue to maintain a consultative, partnership approach. As Liberia enters the last stretch of her race to Vision 2030, the WBG is your longstanding partner who is coming alongside to help accelerate reaching the finish line.
“We believe in the future of this country, and we believe that Liberia can win! Our focus is on building foundations for more and better jobs — keeping the people of the Liberia at the center, where they belong. We are honored to partner with you in reaching for the bright and prosperous future that the Liberian people desire and deserve.”
The launch, which brought together senior officials of the Liberian government, development partners, civil society organizations and other relevant stakeholders, was held Wednesday, December 3, 2025, at the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ministerial Complex in Congo Town.
The CPF aims to strengthen the growing collaboration between Liberia and the World Bank Group via a “One WBG” approach that emphasizes collaboration among the Group’s different institutions (IDA, IBRD, IFC, and MIGA) to address Liberia’s development challenges more effectively. It increases focus on enabling private sector development through key corporate initiatives – particularly Mission 300 and the WBG’s agribusiness scale-up – to catalyze partnerships and crowd in financing.
Speaking at the occasion, Liberia’s Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr. Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, extolled the WBG for supporting Liberia’s development initiatives over the years and counting.
Minister Ngafuan told the gathering that the country’s major strategy to the achievement of this plan is to ensure affordable energy access, which is the engine of private sector growth.
He said the government will work to reduce energy cost so as to enhance growth.
“Our key priority of focus is to increase energy access and reduce charges. We are deliberate with this plan. We are putting more money in infrastructure and energy to unlock the constraints so that the private sector can thrive. We are on the right track with this,” added Minister Ngafuan.
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