MONROVIA, November 27(LINA) -President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says the Liberian Government must intensify its resource mobilization efforts at home and abroad to secure funding for national response with a strategic eye on the looming post-Ebola economic challenges.
She indicated that the government is already beginning to see that growth numbers of the economy are being reversed downwards, hitting what she calls negative territory.
The President’s remarks were contained in the second consolidated expenditure report based on emergency spending request approved by the National Legislature, which covers up-to-date deposits and disbursement through the Ebola Trust Fund as of October 31, 2014, the Liberia News Agency reports.
The report submitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, J. Alexander Tyler, on November 19, 2014, was read in Session on Thursday.
According to President Sirleaf, recent projections put Liberia’s 2014 growth rate at 0.4%, with the expectation that it will worsen in 2015 to -2.8%.
She noted that this bad news can be reversed if, with the support and commitment of the Legislature, the right decisions are taken to allocate resources to the productive sectors and to infrastructure improvement.
“As you can see from the three months execution of the Trust Fund we are beginning to see results. However, I urge that we intensify our collective efforts to
eradicate the virus once and for all,” she told the lawmakers.
LINA