Liberia

The Government of Liberia: Economic Stabilization and Recovery Plan (2015-2017)

Financial Tracking 

As of March 2016, Liberia reported 10,675 cases of Ebola with 4,809 fatalities (a 45 percent fatality rate).1

 

The following text has been excerpted from The Government of Liberia: Economic Stabilization and Recovery Plan (2015-2017) 

During the outbreak, household incomes plummeted, schools and hospitals were forced to shut their doors, ongoing development projects experienced significant delays and increased costs, and thousands of children lost their parents. Considered among the fastest growing economies in the world in 2013, GDP growth in Liberia fell from 5.9 percent to 0.7 percent. Maternal mortality rates during the outbreak soared by 111 percent.

The government has already taken a number of key actions to limit the impact of the crisis:7 

  • Reopening of markets and borders to facilitate the resumption of commercial trading activities; 
  • Strengthening of social safety nets, including the provision of cash transfers to support the households most affected by the epidemic;
  • Resumption of the construction of Liberia’s major public infrastructure and private investment projects;
  • Prioritization of government payments to goods and services providers through government ministries and agencies;
  • Implementing immediately the recovery plans for the education and health sectors to safely reopen schools and restore basic health care services;
  • Implementing economic stimulus programs including loan schemes, housing construction projects for low-income earners.
  • Protecting survivors of Ebola, orphans, and health workers from stigmatization and discrimination.

The purpose of Liberia’s Economic Stabilization and Recovery Plan (2015-2017) is to define the strategic medium-term interventions that will stabilize the country and spur rapid social and economic recovery, while at the same time improve the economy’s resilience to any future shocks. The government is now working closely with partners to implement a coherent set of medium-term programs to get the country back on a path to inclusive growth. Liberia’s Economic Stabilization and Recovery Plan (2015-2017) is separated into three strategic areas:

Strategy 1: Recovering Output and Growth.8 

  • Prioritizing access to finance for farmers, small and medium enterprises, and priority value chain;
  • Promoting diversification of Liberia’s economy;
  • Increasing support to targeted labor and supplier development programs; and
  • Financing the costs of delay and overrun on critical infrastructure projects incurred from the Ebola crisis.

Strategy 2: Strengthening Resilience and Reducing Vulnerability.9

  • Implementing a revised seven-year Health Investment Plan over the next two  fiscal years;
  • Meeting revised education investment priorities in response to the crisis;
  • Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services response and recovery implementation plan;
  • Strengthening the response program underway to expand cash transfers; and
  • Ensure adequate investment in Liberia’s security sector.

Strategy 3: Strengthening Public Finances and Ensuring Service Delivery.10 

  • Securing ongoing budget support financing to help replace budget shortfalls;
  • De-concentration of public service delivery; and
  • Continue to drive civil service reform priorities.

Financial Requirements of the Government of Liberia’s Economic Stabilization and Recovery Plan (2015-2017).11

Program Area                          Recovery Costs (USD Millions)
      2015      2016      2017      Total
Intervention I: Recovering Output and Economic Growth        
Agriculture $20.1 $50.0 $35.0 $105.1
Private sector services manufacturing and mining $4.5 $6.0 $5.5 $16.0
Infrastructure: energy, roads, transport, and ports $41.4 $142.2 $0.0 $183.6
Intervention II: Strengthening Resilience and Reducing Vulnerability        
Health $50.8 $191.1 $196.9 $438.8
Water $0.0 $14.5 $4.9 $19.4
Education $15.2 $8.1 $8.1 $31.4
Social protection $5.1 $37.6 $37.6 $80.3
Security $0.0 $76.2 $17.7 $93.9
Intervention III: Public Finances are Ensuring Service Delivery        
Public finances $0.0 $142.8 $146.0 $288.8
Total $137.1 $668.4 $451.7 $1,257.2

 

The narrative above includes excerpts from the Government of Liberia’s Economic Stabilization and Recovery Plan (2015-2017). The data regarding donor pledges, commitments and disbursements was collected by the Office of the Security-General’s Special Adviser on Community-Based Medicine and Lessons from Haiti. 

 

1. World Health Organization. “Ebola Situation Report.” Updated March 2016.
2. Requirements are the resources that were requested in the national and regional recovery plans presented at the United Nations International Ebola Recovery Conference in New York (July 2015.) 
3. A pledge is a general promise to provide assistance and is usually made for a particular time frame, though not always.
4. Committed (or obligated) funds are those for which projects have been approved or agreements/contracts have been signed or are in the process of being transferred or disbursed. Committed funds are exclusive of disbursed funds. 
5. Disbursement is the transfer of funds from a donor to implementing partners (which could be governments, non-governmental organizations, UN entities, or private contractors, among others).
6. The United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Community Based Medicine and Lessons from Haiti has requested information regarding disbursements from all donors, and will publish any remaining data as soon as it becomes available.
7. The Government of Liberia. The Government of Liberia’s Economic Stabilization and Recovery Plan (2015-2017). June 2015. p. 8.
8. The Government of Liberia. The Government of Liberia’s Economic Stabilization and Recovery Plan (2015-2017). June 2015. p. 7.
9. The Government of Liberia. The Government of Liberia’s Economic Stabilization and Recovery Plan (2015-2017). June 2015. p. 7.
10. The Government of Liberia. The Government of Liberia’s Economic Stabilization and Recovery Plan (2015-2017). June 2015. p. 9.
11. The Government of Liberia. The Government of Liberia’s Economic Stabilization and Recovery Plan (2015-2017). June 2015. p. 63.