-As IFC’s Private Investment Forum ends in Monrovia
By William Selmah wselmah@gmail.com
A Private Sector Engagement Forum in Monrovia organized by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has ended in Monrovia, with President George Weah promising to improve the investment climate in Liberia by easing the constraints and cost of doing business in Liberia.
President Weah told entrepreneurs in the private sector at the weekend that economic revival in Liberia is to a large extent dependent on the private sector.
He recognized the sector as a strategic partner in implementing his administration’s Pro-poor Agenda, and called on private sector to explore opportunities in road construction and rehabilitation, agriculture, fishery and communication.
At the Forum, which was held on July 24, 2018, the Liberian leader said:
“As we begin to meaningfully engage the private sector, Government will lower costs and constraints” facing the sector.
According to President Weah, private investors are capable of contributing to economic viability and generating change in the lives of the Liberian people.
He thanked the IFC for the Forum and its timeliness, promising to work with them to improve conditions for doing business here.
Speaking earlier, Liberia’s Finance Minister Samuel Tweah expressed the hope that the meeting attains its objectives and benefits the Liberian government’s Pro-poor agenda.
He said one of the factors adversely affecting Liberia’s economy is that it is yet to be diversified; structured only on the sale of raw materials such as iron ore and rubber.
The shrink in the prices of those commodities on the world market, he said, has not helped the country.
“We need a diversified economy, which requires private sector involvement,” he stressed.
The Liberian Finance Minister said that this would reduce Liberia’s dependence on raw materials and strengthen its resilience.
The real long-term solution to Liberia’s economic problems, he noted, lies in a sustained private sector investment. He therefore called on banking institutions to begin loaning to smaller businesses in order to step up their capacity.
He pointed out that other solutions can be found in road connectivity.
Mr. Tweah said this is the rationale behind one of President Weah’s key undertakings – the 1000 km coastal highway project that will link all of the coastal counties.
The Finance Minister believes this would stimulate private sector activities as it would among other benefits, step up farmers’ production.
Major roads in the region are almost impossible to ply, especially during rainy season and he informed the IFC Investment Forum that the model Liberia has worked with over the past 70 years has not helped its economic growth.
The IFC Africa and MENA Regional Vice President Sergio Pigmenta said the Monrovia Forum, coming on the heels of a global consensus that has put private sector at the forefront of development challenges, was well-timed.
He also noted that the meeting comes at the time the Liberian Government is embarking on key challenges facing the country.
Commenting on Liberia’s development challenges, the IFC Vice President named some as “bridging the infrastructure gap; in particular improving road access and ensuring reliable and affordable access to energy.”
He also spoke of diversifying from a commodity-based economy such as value chains around key agricultural commodities.
He expressed the need for the country “to address the demands of rapid urbanization, and invest in human capital, create jobs, notably for youth and women and promote entrepreneurship.
Mr. Pigmenta has at the same time acknowledged the Liberian government’s determination to address those challenges and called on the private and public sectors to complement its efforts in that direction.
Touching on continental issues, the IFC Vice President underscored the enormous challenges Africa still faces, with around 650 million of its people having no access to electricity, 350 million without clean water and only 0.5% to broad band.
He disclosed that on a monthly basis, 1.7 million people join the working age population in Sub-Saharan countries. In other grim statistics, Pigmenta said that 390 million Africans still live below the international line for extreme poverty – $1.90 [per day].
He said this is happening despite reductions in the percentage of people living in poverty on the continent from 54% in 1990, to 41% in 2013. He noted that in the midst of all of this, only less than 1% of the world’s industrial production comes from Africa, despite its unique resources.
The recent IFC Forum in Monrovia was aimed at discussing challenges to private sector expansion in Liberia, some of which several entrepreneurs that participated in the event identified as unwillingness of successive governments to implement existing policies, lack of specialized financing options that support local businesses and the high cost of export, which the CEO of the Fabrar Rice Corporation Janine Cooper, said at times exceeds the value of commodities to be exported.