The U.S. Embassy in Monrovia has congratulated the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) on the successful completion of a competitive and transparent process for selecting vendors to supply a new family of Liberian dollar banknotes and coins. Leveraging technical assistance provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), CBL’s Board of Governors, management, and staff designed and implemented a procurement process that attracted competitive bids from leading international suppliers. The selected vendors will produce and deliver more than L$40 billion in new banknotes and coins in 2022 and 2024 to replace the domestic currency in circulation, address the liquidity problem Liberia currently faces and provide the Liberian people easier access to cash. Thanks to its use of international standards and best practices, the CBL is supplying technically sound banknotes and coins at the best possible value.
USAID Liberia Mission Director, Jim Wright, hailed the “competitive procurement efforts of the CBL”, observing that “they should stand as a model for government procurement in Liberia”.
CBL Executive Governor, J. Aloysius Tarlue, commended the government and people of the United States for their assistance and noted “the importance of public confidence in the Central Bank to facilitate its role in growing the Liberian economy and creating jobs and economic opportunities for all Liberians.” Governor Tarlue acknowledged the level of knowledge transfer and capacity-building USAID’s technical support brought to the CBL, which, along with additional technical support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), placed the Bank in a better position to effectively conduct and manage the currency changeover process going forward as well as future currency procurement.
The competitive procurement marks the closeout of USAID’s two-year-long technical assistance program to help the CBL more effectively perform some of its core functions, especially the management of the Liberian currency and creating the necessary monetary stability for broad-based and inclusive economic growth. In addition to the current competitive procurement of more than L$40 billion, USAID supported the emergency printing of L$4 billion in L$500 banknotes that arrived in Liberia in July 2020 to help ease the liquidity pressures in the country. In 2021, USAID supported the procurement of an additional L$8 billion to further address short-term liquidity needs. The first L$4 billion of new L$100 banknotes arrived safely in December 2021, and the second L$4 billion is scheduled for February 2022.
“USAID congratulates the CBL for its successful currency procurements over the past two years, and although USAID assistance is ending at this time, the U.S. Government will continue to provide technical support to the CBL through other channels. USAID remains a close partner of the CBL and an advocate for continued transparency and competition in all public procurement in Liberia,” a statement from the US embassy said.