The plenary of the Liberian Senate has mandated its Committees on Ways, Means, Finance and Budget and Public Accounts and Audit to begin public hearings for the draft National Budget for 2022.
The draft budget was officially submitted by the Executive on Thursday, November 18, 2021 to the Senate during the 8th day sitting of the Special Session of the Liberian Senate.
The draft National Budget, in the tone of US$785,587,340, is expected to take effect January 1, 2022.
This is the first calendar year budget. Initially, Liberia had a fiscal year budget which ran from July 1 to June 30 of every year.
According to the release, priorities in the draft budget are health, us$83,193,300; education, us$87,896,824; public administration sectors, us$242,623,878; infrastructure & basic services, us$42,484,608; energy & environmental sector, us$18,913,902; security and rule of law sectors, us$92,394,339; transparency & accountability sector, us$29,115,887; municipal government sector, us$25,482,002; agriculture sector, us$5,274,754; and social development services sector, us$9,513,676, amongst others.
“Honorable Pro-Tempore and members of the Liberian Senate, it is my desire that the FY2022 budget be accorded special and timely consideration because of the number of significant national undertakings to be funded during the ensuring fiscal year,” President George M. Weah stated in his communication to the Senate.
The President, in his submission, highlighted the conduct of the National Population and Housing Census, fulfilling government’s commitment to strengthening monetary policy through replacement of legacy banknotes and preparatory activities for the 2023 elections as time-bond projects featured under the public sector investment plan segment.
The Chief Executive further added that the timely passage of the budget will ensure that these programs are started and implemented as scheduled.