Ministry of Finance and Development Planning Deputy Minister for Economic Management, Augustus Flomo, says Liberia’s domestic debt portfolio climbed to US$708 million as of December 2021. Minister Flomo made the disclosure Thursday, June 23, 2022 on Capitol Hill when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Ways, Means and Finance to clarify concerns raised by Senator Abraham Darius Dillon, Montserrado County, concerning the country’s domestic debt.
Minister Flomo explained that in 2019 the President placed a hold on the borrowing of money from the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL). The President’s decision, according to him, is still being upheld by the government—no money borrowed from the CBL—while the government gradually settles the current debt.
Before the President’s decision in 2019, Deputy Minister Flomo underscored that the government was indebted to the CBL at US$233 million, the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation (NASSCORP) US$50 million, and commercial banks US$55 million. Other debts that were calculated and imputed to the government grand-totaled US$708 million—after the President had ordered in 2019 no money credited from the CBL.
Minister Flomo revealed that, knowing fully well that government is continuity, the accumulation of the government’s debts started as far back as 1930. He pointed out that some of those cases were contested in court, and some of them won the government based on the valid documents submitted.
For the country to pay the debts, he said the government in the 2020/2021 budget placed US$72 million for domestic debt, and in the 2022 budget the government also allocated US$69 million for domestic debt. If it is done annually, he stated, it will take the government 10 years to complete the payment of the US$708 million. He told the committee that the General Auditing Commission (GAC) is currently auditing the country’s domestic debt.
At the end of the public hearing, the Co-Chair of Ways, Means and Finance, Senator Prince Moye, told the Minister the committee would retire to committee room and his office will be asked to submit some documents necessary for the committee’s deliberation.