Monrovia-Finance and Development Planning Minister Amara Konneh says government decision to increase spending during the Ebola outbreak was largely responsible for stability in the economy.
“When other sectors stop spending, government has to increase her spending to keep the economy stable,” Konneh said.
Konneh said, during the outbreak basic commodities like rice and petroleum prices did not increase and foreign exchange rate became stable due to sound fiscal policy instituted by the Government of Liberia.
Min. Konneh made these remarks when he delivered a special presentation on the Liberian Economy at the Ministry of Information Press Briefing Thursday.
Addressing journalists in the Charles Gbeyon Press Hall, the Planning & Finance Minister outlined several economic management measures adopted by the government that helped in stabilizing the economy.
Minister Konneh said, the Ministry of Finance, during the outbreak, accelerated goods and service spending to support businesses and the government had to increase her intervention in the foreign exchange market by US$73.1 Million to maintain a stable equilibrium between Liberian Dollar and foreign currencies. “This is the longest in recent times that the rate has remained stable at 82. It didn’t happen by accident…” He noted.
He added that payment of domestic debt directly to banks and the payment of civil servant salaries on time were some of the actions the government took to have a balance in the exchange rate.
“We paid civil servant salaries on time, we paid US$ 219.4M from January to December 2014, from that amount we paid US$113millions from July to December,” Konneh added.
The Finance boss highlighted the role of the Economic Management Team (EMT) in ensuring regular supplies of essential commodities on the Liberian market by engaging key stakeholders to reduce import cost, as key to the maintenance of stability the economy experienced. According to him, the EMT allowed trade channels to remain open which led to more petroleum on the market than ever before.
Painting a picture of the Liberian Economy, the Finance Minister informed journalists that declines in the prices of iron ore and rubber combined with the a drawdown within the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) meant the economy was over the cliff and at the verge of collapsing before the outbreak of Ebola. To stabilize the economy, Min. Konneh said the Government of Liberia had to infuse “more than a quarter of billion United States dollars…”
Demonstrating with a PowerPoint presentation, Min. Konneh explained that the Government had to mobilize extra budgetary support to reverse the pre-ebola trend of the economy, respond to the outbreak of the disease and avoid a fiscal crisis.
“This economy was on the verge of collapsing when the Ebola came. You cannot be going up and fall down and say nothing wrong with you,” He stressed.
Minister Konneh informed his audience that in spite of aberrations in the past months, the economy is moving towards normalcy and most of the government’s development projects are now back on track.
“We are aggressively moving, most of the things are getting on track, the contractors are beginning work with the Mount Coffee Hydro-Plant, the Redlight to Ganta Highway and Fish Town- Harper highway,” Konneh added.