President Joseph Nyuma Boakai… Highly optimistic to restore hope and attain prosperity for Liberians in next 5 years in governance

Abubakar Hashim /Monrovia

Walking downtown Monrovia, in the restaurants, cabs and other spots and rendezvous, even in the 15 counties, interacting with Liberians of all shades of opinion and characters, reactions are mixed on the first-year stewardship of President Boakai. One major conclusion among many Liberians is that economic recovery and societal sanity are gradually being restored so far.  Liberia is a country with deep-seated roots of ethnic, tribal and political colourations. With five years remaining in his stewardship, though optimistic about attaining prosperity, President Boakai is also equal to the task of uniting a country so deeply polarised today.

When Liberia’s President Joseph Nyuma Boakai granted an exclusive interview with TheNEWS on August 17, 2024, at his official residence at Rehab in Monrovia, he revealed, among others,  “One year can only be a groundwork to restore hope to Liberians and not a measurable yardstick to fully assess my governance”.

President Boakai launching his ARREST program, his development agenda, 2025-2029, on January 15, 2025, at the Port City of Buchanan, in Grand Bassa County, Liberia … his main vehicle to prosperity for Liberians

He went further to explain that his ARREST program, Agriculture, Roads, Rule of Law, Education, Sanitation and Tourism, his working document, will only be officially launched in a few months.

On January 15, 2025, about five months later, President Boakai officially launched his working tool, ARREST, in the second Port City of Buchanan. ARREST is the campaign slogan and the winning formula Boakai used to defeat former President Weah in the October 10, 2023 Presidential elections.

In the President’s estimation, without operationalising ARREST, only preparatory groundwork could be done, which cannot be a measurable yardstick to evaluate tangible performance in his first year in power.

Notwithstanding this, there are now noticeable signs of economic recovery. The country’s foreign reserves have increased to $ 458.9 million, with the local Liberian dollar appreciated by 4.7% against the United States dollar.

Hon Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan,
Minister of Finance and
Development Planning …Sound economic policies to maintain stability

The Liberian Central Bank has also reduced the monetary policy rate from 20% to 17%, boosting confidence in the nation’s financial system, with a corresponding boost and increase in private sector credit by 9.1%. There are steps ongoing to restore economic stability. In 2024, there was a growth rate of 5.1%, with key sectors like mining, agriculture, fisheries and services driving the growth rate.

Other strategic investments in infrastructure and energy, particularly Boakai’s recent trip to Tanzania for the Africa Energy Summit, were beneficial to bolster economic expansion. Liberia gained from the $50 Billion energy support at the Africa Energy Summit, along with other African countries.

Inflation was relatively managed, from 10:1% in 2023 to 7.7% by the end of 2024, due to sound fiscal and monetary policies, with a high expectation of further reduction to 6.0% in 2025.

There has also been relative progress in modernising the Liberia financial system through improving access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises MSMEs, with a boost in financial inclusion and implementation of the National Electronic Payment Switch System NEPSS, a bid to transit to a cashless economy.

Hon. Roland Layfette Giddings,
Minister of Public Works … Turning Liberia into worksyard, through rapid rehabilitation and maintenance of roads

There has also been a focus on transforming Liberia’s investment climate. Policy reforms are ongoing to attract investments, amplify regulation, simplify regulations, reduce red tape and strengthen legal frameworks to enhance investment protection and local empowerment.

Investment negotiations are ongoing with credible multinationals in energy, mining, agriculture, infrastructure and technology. Upon finalisation, about $ 3 billion in investments in these areas are expected in the Liberian economy.

The first year is a groundwork for economic recovery, with a promising medium-term outlook in 2025 with an expected growth rate of 5.8% in 2025. The passing of the 2025 national budget of $880.7 million before the commencement of the final year is unprecedented in post-war Liberia.

Despite the global disruption in the supply chain affecting commodities prices worldwide, there was relative stability in the costs of prices in the Liberian markets. For instance, rice and petroleum products remained relatively stable for the past year. The price of 25kg parboiled rice was reduced. Pump prices of petroleum products like PMS (Petrol) were reduced by 12.53% from $4.47 in January 2024 to $3.91 in December 2024.

The Boakai-led government, through the Public Works Ministry and the National Road Fund NRF, has financed Public Works a total of 1,426.04 kilometres of road projects in 2024. Out of which, 479.69 roads were rehabilitated, with 33.64 % km done and emergency interventions, 41.36 km, with 2.90 % done.

A breakdown of financed roads includes 1,273 km of Primary roads, 80.4 km of secondary roads, 71 km of urban roads and 0.64 km of feeder roads, with seven bridges rehabilitated in 2024.

There were more maintenance works in 2024 by the Boakai government at 904.99 km, while rehabilitated works at 479.69 km and emergency interventions at 41.36 km.

Apart from this, Liberia has gained international recognition, as the current NRF manager, Madam Joseta Wento, is now the chair of the African Road Maintenance Funds Association ARMFA at its last 21st General Assembly in Ivory Coast, putting Liberia on the global stage.

HHon. Dr. J. Alexander Nuetah, Minister of Agriculture … Moving away from subsistence to mechanised agriculture for increased income generation to farmerson. Dr. J. Alexander Nuetah

As in the road sector, Agriculture is getting a similar pace. Agriculture is not only a central focus of the government but is also assuming a commercial status as a rapid income earner to farmers, who constitute about 70 % of Liberians. Agriculture is gradually assuming a mechanised status through private-led strategies.

Liberia also realised some progress in domestic revenue mobilisation. At the end of December 2024, $734 million was collected by the country’s revenue authority, LRA, the highest domestic revenue collection in the nation’s history.

The country also regained international recognition in the last year, particularly in economic relations with bilateral and multilateral development partners. There was a trust deficit in the past administration in the country’s economic relations. However, in 2024, Liberia started to regain lost economic glory. The country received a $210 million financing package from the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility ECF to stabilise the economy.

The most impactful program, when fully implemented, is the ARREST Program, which was launched a few days ago. It is officially known as the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development, AAID, built on the foundations of the Pro-Poor for Prosperity and Development and the Agenda for Transformation.

AAID is geared toward Vision 2030, the country’s goal of becoming a developmental state to achieve a middle-income status. It’s an $8.4 billion development plan. A total of 60% of the funding will come from the government and development partners, while the remaining will come from private investment sources.

However, ARREST will only work successfully with active youth participation. How to unlock the potentialities of the youth is the greatest challenge of the Boakai-led administration.

Another major challenge of the ARREST program is the state of the country’s institutions and entities, considered to be structurally weak, leading to a crisis of governance. More so, there are deep-seated under-current issues that run deep in Liberia, including political, economic, social, ethnic, tribal and cultural cleavages that are antithetical to rapid and cohesive development.

For the ARREST program to work efficiently, there must be unity among Liberians, a candid and sincere focus on the needs of the next generation and not on winning the next election in 2029, the talk of the town in Liberia today.