## MOBILIZING MINING REVENUE IN SIERRA LEONE

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---

### A. Overview and Key Facts
- Sierra Leone is resource rich with reserves of rutile, bauxite, iron ore, gold, diamonds, limonite, platinum, and zircon.
- Extractive sector contributions and structure:
  - Contributes some 7 percent of GDP and 80 percent of goods exports.
  - Employs about 2.84 percent of the labor force.
  - As of June 2024, there were 21 active large scale mining licenses.
- Artisanal mining:
  - Represented about 2.6 percent of the labor force in 2019.
  - Estimated 700 active sites, of which 485 mine diamonds and 200 mine gold.
  - In 2021, artisanal mining represented 42 percent of total export value for gold, 33 percent for diamonds, and 59 percent for columbite-tantalite ore (coltan).
- Administration:
  - National Revenue Agency (NRA) is primary fiscal administrator.
  - Extractive Industry Revenue Unit (EIRU) within NRA has only 6 staff.

### B. Fiscal Regime Structure and Recent Reforms
- Historical practice:
  - Most large mines operate under individually negotiated mineral license agreements with stabilized fiscal terms (negotiated royalty rates, income tax provisions, exemptions).
- 2018 reform — Extractive Industries Revenue Act (EIRA):
  - Legislated to be primary fiscal regime for new mining investments.
  - Imposed royalties and introduced a resource rent tax (RRT).
  - Relies on Income Tax Act (ITA) provisions (transfer pricing, interest limitations) and conventional instruments (CIT, withholding taxes).
  - Preserves existing fiscal terms for incumbent projects and directs NRA to ignore unilateral alterations to those terms.
- Implementation status:
  - None of Sierra Leone’s main mines are currently subject to the RRT introduced in the EIRA.
  - No state participation dividends have been reported.

### C. Mining Revenue Performance and Composition
- Fiscal receipts 2010–23:
  - Median of 0.9 percent of GDP.
  - Standard deviation of 0.4 percent of GDP.
- Two phases:
  - 2010–2014: revenues averaged about 1.5 percent of GDP, standard deviation about 0.3.
  - Post-2014: average fiscal revenues declined to about 0.7 percent of GDP.
- 2023: sector contributed around 0.6 percent of GDP in revenue.
- Main revenue sources (recent years):
  - Mineral royalties: around 0.2–0.3 percent of GDP; cornerstone but volatile and tied to production and prices; royalties boosted substantially in 2021 with a one-off payment to settle a prior dispute.
  - License and environmental fees: nearly one-third of total mining revenue recently (about 0.2 percent of GDP); fees provide stability but raise project costs and reduce competitiveness.
  - Income and withholding taxes: between 2019 and 2021 averaged 0.1 percent of GDP; revenues confined to a few taxpayers (two taxpayers routinely paid CIT, ad hoc withholding from 14 taxpayers).
  - Other instruments (surface rents, trade taxes, state participation dividends): small or currently negligible contributors.

### D. Diagnostics and Policy Issues
- Fiscal regime limitations:
  - Project-level negotiated fiscal terms and stabilization clauses limit ability to capture price upswings and to adjust taxation responsively.
  - Heavy reliance on royalties, fees, and trade taxes yields limited upside during commodity price booms.
  - Regressive effective tax profile: analysis indicates limited ability to capture high project profitability (downward sloping Average Effective Tax Rate for a hypothetical project).
- Sector vulnerabilities:
  - Stop-start investment and production cycles when firms face persistent fixed obligations during low-price periods (examples: iron ore suspension in 2014; rutile in 2020).
  - Weak artisanal sector regulation, especially in remote high-value sites, creating risks of under-reporting and illicit exports.
- Administrative constraints:
  - NRA/EIRU capacity acute (EIRU has 6 staff), limiting assessment and collection of mineral royalties and broader revenue administration.
  - Mineral valuation and regulatory roles split across agencies (MMMR, NMA, Minerals Advisory Board), creating coordination and capacity challenges.

### E. Prior Engagement and Technical Support
- IMF support:
  - Assisted development of the EIRA law and explanatory materials.
  - Implementation of a safe harbor for iron ore prices.
  - Compliance support to the EIRU.
  - Training on fiscal modeling of resource projects.
- Much support provided with financial support from the multi-donor Managing Natural Resource Wealth (MNRW) Thematic Fund.

### F. Policy Recommendations (Extracted from Analysis)
- Apply the EIRA consistently for new investments to improve revenue responsiveness to economic conditions and capture resource rent in highly profitable projects.
- Strengthen revenue administration:
  - Bolster NRA and EIRU resources and widen skill sets to improve mineral royalty compliance and overall revenue assessment and collection.
- Limit ad-hoc concession-making and negotiated exemptions that undermine the uniform fiscal regime and reduce competitiveness.
- Improve regulation and monitoring of the artisanal mining sector, especially in remote areas, to reduce under-reporting and illicit export.
- Consider measures that enhance government ability to capture upside from commodity price booms while preserving investment climate credibility (consistent application of EIRA provisions and clear stabilization/dispute policies).

### Negotiation Pressures and Fiscal Outcomes
- Policymakers can rush to agree new fiscal terms to avoid mine closures at the expense of future revenues.
- Example concession:
  - 2021 Sierra Rutile royalty reduced to 0.5 percent (from 4 percent) after a threat to cease production.
  - Cumulative revenue impact from that concession:
    - USD 12.6 million by end-2023
    - USD 25 million by 2026
- Recent negotiation practice (Marampa, Kingho, Sierra Rutile) has included reduced mineral royalty rates, CIT concessions, exemption from the RRT, reduced withholding taxes.
- Stylized 15-year project (real internal rate of return around 22 percent before taxation) implications:
  - Recent government practice would transfer one third of total revenue back to the investor.
  - A 1 percent reduction in royalty rates has cumulative total cost of around USD 30 million.
  - Exclusion of the RRT has cumulative lost revenue around USD 120 million.
  - The project would be viable after tax under the EIRA fiscal regime at assumed prices; concessions therefore are not needed to make the project viable.

### EIRA Fiscal Regime Versus Recent Practice
- EIRA:
  - Better suited to accommodating fluctuations in mining conditions.
  - Would raise more revenue while being more responsive to changes in mineral prices and project economics.
- Recent practice:
  - Relies more heavily on generating revenue from mineral royalties and fees applied to mining investors.
  - Increases prospects of a stop-start pattern of mining operations and investor renegotiation requests.
- High-impact recommendation: dispense with the negotiation of fiscal terms and rely on the EIRA.

### Tax Policy Issues
- Abusive transfer pricing:
  - Major mining projects are foreign owned and at risk of cross-border tax planning via profit shifting.
  - ITA prescribes arm’s length prices; Sierra Leone implemented detailed regulations in 2021 for use of international quoted prices for export of commodities to related parties.
  - Despite protections, Sierra Leone faces acute challenges detecting and combating profit shifting via transfer prices.
- Transfers of interests in mining companies:
  - NRA faces challenges identifying offshore transactions that might incur CGT and asserting legal right to tax them.
- Tax incentives and negotiated fiscal terms:
  - Income tax incentives (tax holidays) are used but are not usually decisive for investment and increase revenue risk.
  - Recent concessions (Marampa, Kingho, Sierra Rutile) will forgo revenue.
- Tax stabilization:
  - Stabilization provisions complicate tax reform and tax base protection measures; NRA needs detailed legal analysis before safe harbor introduction (for iron ore pricing between related parties).

### State Participation and Fiscal Risks
- Policy mandate:
  - State shall acquire a free carried interest of 10 percent of the value of a large scale mining license (MMDA).
- Institutional development:
  - Sierra Leone Mines and Minerals Development and Management Corporation established in 2023 to carry out minerals and mining development management and facilitate state participation.
- Fiscal implications and risks:
  - Any dividend revenue might be retained under the corporation’s control—outside the budget.
  - Corporation can borrow, finance or guarantee project company operations, and identify minerals for its own development/management.
  - Risk of drawing revenue away from the budget unless aligned with national development goals, with enhanced reporting and access to technology and skilled staff.
  - Near-term alternative: any dividend revenue received could be used to engage specialists to transition companies to the EIRA fiscal regime.

### Revenue Administration: Capacity and Information Constraints
- Core administration skills and capacity constraints:
  - Key agencies face acute capacity constraints; NRA still building sectoral experience.
  - Under-resourcing and skills shortages undermine monitoring, detection of tax avoidance, and ability to stop evasion and smuggling.
- Information exchange and transfer pricing audits:
  - NRA has no access to international tax information exchange mechanisms, hindering information gathering.
  - Lack of information makes transfer pricing audits challenging.
- Steps to improve compliance:
  - Review iron ore pricing practices and develop a safe harbor pricing methodology to reduce information gaps.
  - Strengthen legal analysis and negotiation skills for narrower, time-bound fiscal stability provisions and support complex tax audits.
  - Maintain narrower technical skills (e.g., diamond valuation) and elevate monitoring to reduce corrupt valuations and protect officials from coercion.
- Suggested sequencing for NRA compliance focus:
  - Near-term: ensure mineral producers comply with reporting obligations and set mineral prices according to the arm’s length standard.
  - Once mineral pricing compliance is stable (or earlier if resources permit), focus on strengthening administration of other royalty and taxation issues.
  - Build experience in tax audits and provide training in transfer pricing.

### Conclusion and Policy Priorities
- Two approaches to mining fiscal regime:
  - EIRA (statutory): would raise more revenue and be more responsive to price/project changes.
  - Recent practice (negotiated): tends to forgo revenue and create stop-start operation risks.
- Risks of current negotiation approach:
  - Authorities negotiate fiscal terms despite capacity constraints and without thorough analysis and fiscal modeling, elevating risk of unbalanced terms favoring investors.
  - Broad fiscal stabilization provisions make outcomes difficult to unwind.
- Policy priorities:
  - Dispense with negotiation of fiscal terms and rely on the EIRA.
  - Strengthen revenue administration with a clear strategy for focusing scarce resources.
  - NRA should prioritize mineral pricing compliance and arm’s length pricing enforcement, then expand to other issues.
  - Reinvest stronger revenue mobilization into improving the investment climate or reducing fiscal instruments that harm competitiveness.

*Source: MOBILIZING MINING REVENUE IN SIERRA LEONE (excerpt).*

### References _____________________________________________________________________________ 14

### MOBILIZING MINING REVENUE IN SIERRA LEONE

### A. Overview and Key Facts
- Sierra Leone is a resource rich country with significant reserves of rutile, bauxite, iron ore, gold, diamonds, limonite, platinum, and zircon.
- The extractive sector contributes some 7 percent of GDP and 80 percent of goods exports, and employs about 2.84 percent of the labor force.
- As of June 2024, there were 21 active large scale mining licenses.
- The artisanal mining sector:
  - Represented about 2.6 percent of the labor force in 2019.
  - Has an estimated 700 active sites, of which 485 mine diamonds and 200 mine gold.
  - In 2021, artisanal mining represented 42 percent of the total export value for gold, 33 percent for diamonds, and 59 percent for columbite-tantalite ore (coltan).
- The National Revenue Agency (NRA) is the primary agency administering the fiscal regime; the Extractive Industry Revenue Unit (EIRU) within NRA has only 6 staff.

### B. Fiscal Regime Structure and Recent Reforms
- Historical practice: Most large mines operate under individually negotiated mineral license agreements with stabilized fiscal terms (including negotiated royalty rates, income tax provisions, and exemptions).
- 2018 reform: The Extractive Industries Revenue Act (EIRA) was legislated to be the primary fiscal regime for new mining investments; EIRA:
  - Imposed royalties and introduced a resource rent tax (RRT).
  - Relies on Income Tax Act (ITA) provisions (transfer pricing, interest limitations) and conventional instruments (CIT, withholding taxes).
  - Preserves existing fiscal terms for incumbent projects and directs NRA to ignore unilateral alterations to those terms, seeking to discourage renegotiations.
- Implementation status: None of Sierra Leone’s main mines are currently subject to the RRT introduced in the EIRA, and no state participation dividends have been reported.

### C. Mining Revenue Performance and Composition
- Fiscal revenue receipts from the mining sector during 2010-23:
  - Median of 0.9 percent of GDP.
  - Standard deviation of 0.4 percent of GDP.
- Two phases in revenue performance:
  - 2010–2014: mining revenues averaged about 1.5 percent of GDP, with a standard deviation of about 0.3.
  - Post-2014 (after Ebola and iron ore sector developments): average fiscal revenues declined to about 0.7 percent of GDP.
- 2023: sector contributed revenue of around 0.6 percent of GDP.
- Main revenue sources (recent years):
  - Mineral royalties: around 0.2–0.3 percent of GDP; royalties remain the cornerstone but are volatile and tied to production and prices. Royalties were boosted substantially in 2021 with a one-off payment to settle a prior dispute.
  - License and environmental fees: contributing nearly one-third of total mining revenue recently (about 0.2 percent of GDP); fees provide stability but raise project costs and reduce competitiveness.
  - Income and withholding taxes: between 2019 and 2021 averaged 0.1 percent of GDP; revenues confined to a few taxpayers (two taxpayers routinely paid CIT, supplemented by ad hoc withholding from 14 taxpayers).
  - Other instruments (surface rents, trade taxes, state participation dividends): small or currently negligible contributors to central government revenue.

### D. Diagnostics and Policy Issues
- Fiscal regime limitations:
  - Project-level negotiated fiscal terms and stabilization clauses limit the government’s ability to capture price upswings and to adjust taxation responsively.
  - Heavy reliance on royalties, fees, and trade taxes yields limited upside during commodity price booms, creating potential political pressure for greater state participation in resource rents.
  - Regressive effective tax profile: analytical results indicate the fiscal regime for existing investors offers limited ability to capture high project profitability (illustrated by a downward sloping Average Effective Tax Rate for a hypothetical project).
- Sector vulnerabilities:
  - Stop-start investment and production cycles occur when firms face persistent fixed obligations during low-price periods (e.g., iron ore suspension in 2014; rutile in 2020).
  - Artisanal sector regulation is weak, especially in remote high-value sites, creating risks of under-reporting and illicit exports.
- Administrative constraints:
  - NRA/EIRU capacity is acute (EIRU has 6 staff), limiting assessment and collection of mineral royalties and broader revenue administration.
  - Mineral valuation and regulatory roles are split across agencies (MMMR, NMA, Minerals Advisory Board), creating coordination and capacity challenges.

### E. Prior Engagement and Technical Support
- The IMF has supported Sierra Leone on mining revenue mobilization through:
  - Support to develop the EIRA law and explanatory materials.
  - Implementation of a safe harbor for iron ore prices.
  - Compliance support to the EIRU.
  - Training on fiscal modeling of resource projects.
- Much of this support was provided with financial support from the multi-donor Managing Natural Resource Wealth (MNRW) Thematic Fund.

### F. Policy Recommendations (Extracted from Analysis)
- Apply the EIRA consistently for new investments to improve revenue responsiveness to economic conditions and capture resource rent in highly profitable projects.
- Strengthen revenue administration:
  - Bolster NRA and EIRU resources and widen skill sets to improve mineral royalty compliance and overall revenue assessment and collection.
- Limit ad-hoc concession-making and negotiated exemptions that undermine the uniform fiscal regime and reduce competitiveness.
- Improve regulation and monitoring of the artisanal mining sector, especially in remote areas, to reduce under-reporting and illicit export.
- Consider measures that enhance the government’s ability to capture upside from commodity price booms while preserving investment climate credibility (consistent application of EIRA provisions and clear stabilization/dispute policies).

*Source: MOBILIZING MINING REVENUE IN SIERRA LEONE (excerpt).*

### 18.      Suspended operations (and disruptions to revenue) has flow-on effects: policymakers

### 18.      Suspended operations (and disruptions to revenue) has flow-on effects: policymakers

### Negotiation pressures and fiscal outcomes
- Policymakers can rush to agree new fiscal terms to avoid mine closures, at the expense of future revenues.
- Example: In 2021 Sierra Rutile was granted a reduced royalty rate of 0.5 percent (from 4 percent) after a threat to cease production.
- Cumulative revenue impact from that concession:
  - USD 12.6 million by end-2023
  - USD 25 million by 2026
- Recent negotiation practice (Marampa, Kingho, Sierra Rutile) has included:
  - Reduced mineral royalty rates
  - CIT concessions
  - Exemption from the RRT
  - Reduced withholding taxes
- For a stylized 15-year prospective project with a real internal rate of return of around 22 percent before taxation:
  - Recent government practice would transfer one third of total revenue back to the investor.
  - A 1 percent reduction in royalty rates has a cumulative total cost of around USD 30 million.
  - Exclusion of the RRT has cumulative lost revenue around USD 120 million.
  - The project would be viable after tax under the EIRA fiscal regime at assumed prices; concessions therefore are not needed to make the project viable.

### EIRA fiscal regime versus recent practice
- The EIRA fiscal regime:
  - Is better suited to accommodating fluctuations in mining conditions.
  - Would raise more revenue while being more responsive to changes in mineral prices and project economics.
- Recent practice:
  - Relies more heavily on generating revenue from mineral royalties and fees applied to mining investors.
  - Increases prospects of a stop-start pattern of mining operations and for investors to seek new fiscal terms if economic conditions deteriorate.
- A high-impact policy recommendation: dispense with the negotiation of fiscal terms and rely on the EIRA.

### Tax policy issues
- Abusive transfer pricing
  - Most major mining projects in Sierra Leone are foreign owned and at risk of cross-border tax planning via profit shifting.
  - International profit shifting involves MNEs undertaking internal group transactions to take advantage of tax differentials.
  - Mining fiscal regimes containing additional taxes increase incentives for MNEs to allocate income to lower‑tax countries.
  - The ITA prescribes that arm’s length prices must be used; Sierra Leone implemented more detailed regulations in 2021 for the use of international quoted prices for the export of commodities to related parties.
  - Despite these protections, Sierra Leone faces acute challenges in detecting and combating profit shifting via transfer prices.
- Transfers of interests in mining companies
  - NRA faces challenges identifying offshore transactions that might incur CGT and in asserting a legal right to tax them.
  - Offshore transactions can be difficult to detect, may not be reported in a timely way, and can be undertaken through complex legal structures that raise disputes about international taxing rights.
- Tax incentives and negotiation of fiscal terms
  - Income tax incentives (e.g., tax holidays) are being employed but are not usually decisive for investment decisions and increase the risk of revenue loss.
  - Recent concessions with Marampa, Kingho, and Sierra Rutile will forgo revenue.
  - For the stylized project, concessions heighten reliance on CIT and state participation dividend payments, both susceptible to profit shifting risks.
- Tax stabilization
  - Tax stabilization provisions complicate tax reform and the natural evolution of tax law.
  - Stabilization provisions increase the difficulty of tax base protection measures and lengthen transition to a new fiscal regime.
  - NRA has needed detailed legal analysis before considering the introduction of a safe harbor price for iron ore sales between related parties, despite grounding in the ITA.

### State participation and fiscal risks
- Policy: Sierra Leone has a mandate to take a ten percent stake in large scale mining projects.
  - MMDA provides that for large scale mining licenses, the state shall acquire a free carried interest of 10 percent of the value of the license.
- Sierra Leone established the Sierra Leone Mines and Minerals Development and Management Corporation in 2023 to carry out minerals and mining development management and to facilitate state participation.
- Fiscal implications and risks of the new mineral development corporation:
  - Any dividend revenue might be retained under its control—outside the budget.
  - The company has been given freedom to borrow, and to finance or guarantee the operations of a project company, and to identify minerals for its own development/management.
  - Risks drawing much-needed revenue away from the budget unless the entity executes a strategy clearly aligned with national development goals, provides enhanced reporting, and secures access to technology and skilled staff.
  - Near-term alternative: any dividend revenue received could be used to engage specialists to transition companies to the EIRA fiscal regime.

### Revenue administration: capacity and information constraints
- Core administration skills and capacity constraints
  - Key agencies face acute capacity constraints; NRA is still building sectoral experience.
  - Under-resourcing and skills shortages undermine monitoring of industry practices, detection of tax avoidance, and the ability to stop evasion and smuggling.
- Information exchange and transfer pricing audits
  - NRA has no access to international tax information exchange mechanisms, hindering information gathering.
  - Lack of information makes transfer pricing audits challenging; NRA may struggle to ascertain whether a corporate group is selling to related parties.
- Steps to improve compliance
  - Reviewing iron ore pricing practices and developing a safe harbor pricing methodology are positive steps to reduce information gaps on iron ore pricing.
  - Better information would improve compliance, but measures will take time to implement effectively.
  - Legal analysis and negotiation skills need strengthening to craft narrower, time-bound fiscal stability provisions, support complex tax audits, and develop negotiation strategies and legal analysis of existing MLAs.
  - Narrower technical skills (e.g., diamond valuation) need maintenance and elevated monitoring to reduce corrupt valuations and protect officials from coercion.
- Suggested sequencing for NRA compliance focus:
  - Near-term: ensure mineral producers comply with reporting obligations and set mineral prices according to the arm’s length standard.
  - Once mineral pricing compliance is stable (or earlier if resources permit), focus on strengthening administration of other royalty and taxation issues.
  - Build experience in tax audits and provide training in transfer pricing to improve taxpayer compliance.

### Conclusion and policy discussion
- Two approaches to mining fiscal regime:
  - EIRA (statutory): would raise more revenue and be more responsive to price/project changes.
  - Recent practice (negotiated): tends to forgo revenue and create stop-start operation risks.
- Risks of current negotiation approach:
  - Authorities negotiate fiscal terms despite capacity constraints and without thorough analysis and fiscal modeling, elevating the risk of unbalanced terms favoring investors.
  - Broad fiscal stabilization provisions make these outcomes difficult to unwind.
- Policy priorities and recommendations:
  - Dispense with negotiation of fiscal terms and rely on the EIRA.
  - Strengthen revenue administration with a clear strategy for focusing scarce resources.
  - NRA should prioritize mineral pricing compliance and arm’s length pricing enforcement, then expand to other issues.
  - Reinvest stronger revenue mobilization into improving the investment climate or reducing fiscal instruments that harm competitiveness.
- Social spending context (linked fiscal considerations):
  - The proposed ECF arrangement includes a floor on social spending of about 0.8 percent of GDP in 2024, and a similar number for 2025.
  - In the medium term, achieving health and education SDGs would require additional annual resources of about 5.6 percent of GDP, which could be reduced to about 0.8 percent of GDP with reforms to increase spending efficiency, mobilize domestic revenues, and boost growth.

*Source: IMF.*

### 0.6 years. With an index value of 0.458 nonetheless the country ranked 181 out of 195 countries

### 1sleea2024002-print-pdf - 0.6 years. With an index value of 0.458 nonetheless the country ranked 181 out of 195 countries

### Socio-economic outcomes and human development indicators
- 0.6 years. With an index value of 0.458 nonetheless the country ranked 181 out of 195 countries in 2022.
- Access to electricity:
  - In 2001, about 8.5 percent of the population had access to electricity.
  - By 2021, this share had risen to 27.5 percent.
- Food insecurity:
  - Since 2015, food insecurity has consistently risen from 75 percent of the population to about 80 percent in 2021.
- Poverty and multidimensional deprivation:
  - Income poverty headcount remains at 56.7 percent compared with an average of 39.38 percent for Sub-Saharan Africa.
  - Average extreme poverty stands at about 13 percent.
  - Multidimensional poverty currently estimated at 58 percent.
- Inequality and political stability:
  - Income inequality (Gini index) decreased during 2003-2018 (from 40 to 35.7); since 2011 the Gini index has increased.
  - Gender inequality has steadily declined over time.
  - Political peace since the civil war has been sustained, and political power has been transferred peacefully since 2002.

### Existing social spending programs and institutional framework
- Five broad categories of social spending exist; analysis groups programs into:
  - (i) contributions to free health care and free education initiatives; and
  - (ii) social protection programs (cash transfers, social assistance, employment/active labor market policies).
- Major programs and delivery:
  - The two largest social protection programs are administered by different MDAs: NaCSA for the unconditional cash transfer and Ministry of Education for the school feeding program.
  - The first large-scale unconditional cash transfer program (Ep Fet Po) launched in 2014 supporting approximately 12,000 households providing each household with about USD15 per month (about 25 percent of their consumption basket); expanded in 2016 to reach over 28,000 beneficiary households in 11 districts; the program lasted until July 2023.
  - New phase: Productive Social Safety Nets and Youth Employment Program expected to benefit about 38,000 persons and includes a cash-for-work component.
  - In 2021, WFP provided unconditional cash and food transfers to 26,000 severely food-insecure households.
- Financing and coordination:
  - Social protection programs are mostly donor funded with a small contribution from the state.
  - Limited mechanisms exist to ensure coordination across programs; limited fiscal space has constrained government contributions and caused underperformance against initial budget allocations.
- Policy and institutional developments:
  - National Social Protection Policy (NSPP) adopted in 2011.
  - Draft bill proposes: (i) a National Social Protection Authority (NSPA); and (ii) a Social Protection Fund (SPF) to pool resources and be managed by NSPA.

### Adequacy, targeting, and efficiency of social spending
- Coverage and adequacy:
  - Programs cover about 18 percent of the total population compared to a median of 20 percent for LICs.
  - World Bank (2021) notes coverage of 23 percent of the poorest quintile compared with 18 percent in other countries.
  - Ep Fet Po UCT accounted for only 17 percent of the average household consumption expenditure of the poorest quintile compared with 19 percent for similar programs across a group of 52 countries.
  - Social pension benefits in households’ total consumption expenditures were 17 percent for the poorest quintile compared with an international average of 27.3 percent.
- Targeting and efficiency signals:
  - Poverty headcount reduction effect is lower than among peers and benefit incidence for the poorest quintile is the second lowest among peers.
  - Benefit-cost ratio and benefit incidence for Sierra Leone in the poorest quantile are higher than among SSA countries and LICs.
  - Benefit-incidence and beneficiary incidence in the richest quintile are the lowest among peers.
  - More work needed to better target vulnerable groups such as women and people with disabilities under youth employment programs.
- Health and education spending efficiency:
  - Health and education represent a significant share of total social spending.
  - In 2019, education spending comprised 16.9 percent of total expenditure, while health spending comprised 6.5 percent of total expenditure.
  - Teachers and health professionals represent about 25 percent of the total wage bill.
  - IMF Expenditure Assessment Tool analysis indicates room to increase efficiency, particularly in health, which is below ECOWAS average.
  - World Bank recommendations to increase health efficiency: prioritize capital spending, strengthen district-level financial management, balance personnel and supply costs, shift focus to primary healthcare, and enhance performance-based funding.
  - World Bank recommendations to increase education efficiency: prioritize non-salary inputs and disadvantaged students, use performance-linked subsidies, improve teacher efficiency, strengthen quality assurance and local agency capacity, and gradually increase education financing over the short to medium term.
- Budget execution and PFM concerns:
  - Budget execution on education and health has been almost 100 percent on average.
  - Within categories, goods and services and domestic capital for both education and health (excluding COVID-19 related spending in 2020 and 2021) were significantly under-executed.
  - Higher execution by the Ministry of Health since 2021 primarily for administrative and operating costs suggests inadequate budget planning and controls.
  - Need to enforce commitment controls consistent with the PFM Act, strengthen fiscal discipline and capacity of budget officials.

### Medium-term financing needs for SDGs and scenario analysis
- Baseline financing gap:
  - Baseline (ECF scenario): Sierra Leone would need to raise about 5.6 percent of GDP annually in additional resources to achieve the health and education SDGs by 2035.
- SDG-FiT framework and calibration:
  - Framework: IMF Fiscal Affairs Department’s SDG Financing Tool (SDG-FiT) using a long-term dynamic financing model with endogenous growth driven by public and private investment and efficiency; calibrated to long-term projections in the new Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the recently rebased GDP.
- Tight financing constraints and policy priorities:
  - Expenditure reprioritization and domestic revenue mobilization are critical.
  - Policies to increase spending efficiency and improve PFM practices are needed.
  - Need for coherent strategy for targeted social support and stronger access to concessional external financing and private sector participation (public-private partnerships).
- Alternative reform scenarios and impacts on financing gap:
  - Scenario A — Spending Rationalization:
    - Assumes gradual increase in efficiency of spending in health, education, and infrastructure and reallocation of about 1 percent of GDP from non-SDG to SDG related current spending.
    - Financing gap estimated at 3.8 percent of GDP.
  - Scenario B — Spending Rationalization and Revenue Mobilization:
    - Assumes Scenario A measures plus gradual increase in the domestic revenue to GDP ratio to 14 percent of GDP by 2040.
    - Financing gap estimated at 1.7 percent of GDP.
  - Scenario C — Spending Rationalization, Revenue Mobilization, and Structural Reforms:
    - Assumes Scenarios A and B plus structural reforms to boost potential growth and private sector participation, including reforms to gradually increase labor force participation and private investment.
    - Potential growth could increase to 5.5 percent of GDP.
    - Financing gap reduced to 0.8 percent of GDP.
- External support and governance:
  - Financing needs are still large even under the most ambitious reform scenario, underscoring the importance of strong commitments from development partners.
  - A planned IMF governance diagnostic mission should provide a holistic view of governance vulnerabilities and outline priority reforms.
  - Maintaining strong political commitment to reforms is likely to boost external support.

### Conclusions and policy recommendations
- Reform priorities for social spending programs:
  - Improve adequacy and efficiency of programs through better targeting.
  - Integrate separate social programs with a readily available database of recipients by finalizing the development of the social protection registry.
  - Invest in financial inclusion and digitalization.
  - Expand programs to supply adequate support for the most vulnerable while avoiding disincentives to labor force participation.
  - Improving efficiency could free up resources to help close the SDG financing gap and secure more donor support for human capital development.
- Social Protection Fund (SPF) recommendation:
  - The proposed SPF should be on budget.
  - As July 3, 2024, the authorities had not made a final decision on whether this would be an off-budget or on-budget fund.
  - Establishing the SPF off-budget could create significant fiscal risks that may remain unknown and/or insufficiently understood or defer costs to the future.
- Fiscal space, revenue, and PFM:
  - More fiscal space is needed to close the funding gap for social spending without undermining macroeconomic stability.
  - Tax-to-GDP ratio is among the lowest among SSA-LICs; there is room to raise more tax revenue through tax policy and enforcement of administrative measures already enacted.
  - Strengthening PFM practices, in line with existing PFM regulations, could improve spending reprioritization, spending efficiency, and generate fiscal savings.
- Structural reforms to boost growth and fiscal space:
  - Improve trade facilitation to enhance competitiveness and tap AfCFTA opportunities.
  - Implement behind-the-border reforms to improve the business environment and develop private sector.
  - Policies to reduce gender inequality could help boost productivity and GDP growth.

*Source: SIERRA LEONE  INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND*

### Annex II. Main Social Spending Programs

### Annex II. Main Social Spending Programs

### Cash Transfers
- Unconditional cash transfers (EP Fet Po):
  - Objectives: Making investments in human capital; Increasing consumption in poor and food-insecure households; Mitigating shocks; Additional support to households that have members who are persons living with a disability.
- Productive Social Safety Net and Youth Employment (PSSNYE):
  - Replaced the EP Fet P0.
  - NaCSa will continue to provide cash transfers to extremely poor households.
  - Additional support to households that have members who are persons living with a disability.
- Social Pension Program:
  - To support war veterans and the elderly.
- Emergency cash transfers:
  - One-time emergency cash transfers to some houseuolds following the onset of Covid-19 pandemic.

### Health-related Programs and Initiatives
- Free healthcare Initiative:
  - Improving access to quality free health care; Procurment of free health care and cost recovery drugs; Dental and medical board; Health service commission; National HIV and AIDS commission; Teaching hospitals complex administration; Post graduate college of health specialists; National public health commission; Pharmacy board services; Devolved function-health care services; Support to national emergency medical services (NEMS)-Ambulance services; Constrution of port loko Hospital; Construction pharma grade wharehouse and ancillary structures.

### Education Support Programs
- Programs and institutions:
  - Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education; Ministry of Technical and Higher Education; Teaching service commission; Devolved function- education services; Civil service training college; Student's loan scheme secretariat.
- Programs and activities:
  - Free quality school education program (Tuition Fees subsidies for school going pupils, Examination Fees for WASSCE); Delivering free quality education; Rehabilitation and expansion of schools; Diet from boarding home schools; Establishing/strengthening of laboratories in senior seocondary schools; Construction of rehabilitation of non-formal learning centres; support to library service.
- National School feeding program (see Annex III).

### Other Social Assistance
- Programs and activities:
  - National reintegration of street children; Gender and children affairs; Grants to welfare institutions; Diets for approved school & remand home; Program for disabled persons; Livelihood support for persons living with disability; Establish rehabilitation centre for drugs addicts; Rehabilitation of Approved Schools and Remand Homes.

### Employment / Active Labour Market Programs
- Productive Social Safety Net and Youth Employment (PSSNYE):
  - In addition to cash transfers, will provide employment to 7000 youths in the rural areas and 6000 youth in the urban areas.
- Graduate Internship Program:
  - Training (vocational, life skillls, cash for training).
- Youth in cash wash project and entrepreneurship and business development training.
- Support to youth in fisheries; suport to youth in Agriculture.
- National Tree Planting (cash for work).
- Sierra Leone community development driven project II- Gietrenk:
  - To progressively reduce poverty by empowering communities to sustain their economic livelihood.
- Pro-poor growth for peace consolidation (GPCIV):
  - To improve the employment and income status of youths in rural communities by providing enhanced economic infrastructure along selected agricultural value chains, constructed by using labor-intensive approaches.
- Enhancing management of rural renewable energy for productive use.
- Community Driven Development Projects:
  - Projects in communities across the country to address the issues of infrastructural breakdown that came as a result of the ten-year civil war that ravaged the country.
- Rapid Community Development Initiatives; Sierra Leone Disability Project; Green Public works; Pro Poor-Growth for Peace Consolidation and Youth Employment (GPCYE) Project.

*Sources: Government Budget and Statement of Economic and Financial Policies (2024), and IMF staff calculations.*

---

### Annex III. School Feeding Program

### Program Overview and Coverage
- Launched in 2018 to address food insecurity and nutritional issues among students and strengthen human capital development.
- Funded by a combination of GoSL and donor resources; several organizations including WFP help implement daily.
- Coordinated by a School Feeding Secretariat.
- Coverage milestones:
  - 2018: 50,000 pupils.
  - 2019: 320,000 pupils.
  - 2021/22: over 700,000 pupils in 14 districts.
  - Target for 2024/25 school year: feed 800,000 students, about 60 percent national coverage.
- Risk to target: threatened by delayed payments to some program partners.

### Reported Impacts and Challenges
- Reported positive impacts (authorities, NDP 2024):
  - Important role in enrolment and retention rates in primary schools.
  - Declines in the rate of child illness and mortality attributed to the program.
- Recommended actions / challenges to address:
  - Need for more resources to keep current with existing providers and to expand nationally.
  - Accumulation of arrears to partners could retard expansion, creating stops and starts.
  - Promote local sourcing of vegetables and other food stuff to stimulate domestic production, build community support, and provide employment and income to local farmers.
  - Strengthen capacity of the School Feeding Secretariat to improve monitoring, accounting, and reporting; put together a credible database for performance and efficiency analysis.
  - Enhance governance in vetting participating agencies.

---

### Annex IV–V. Coverage, Adequacy, and Efficiency of SSN Programs (2018 data)
- Sources: World Bank, ASPIRE; and IMF staff calculations.
- Note: the results are based on the latest available data, 2018.
- Key indicators presented (figures in charts):
  - Coverage of SA and Labor Program (Percent of total population): comparative bars for SLE, ECOWAS, LIC, SSA.
  - Coverage of SA and Labor Program (Percent of poorest quintile receiving SA and labor support).
  - Coverage of SA and Labor Program (Percent of richest quintile receiving SA and labor support).
  - Benefits Adequacy of SA and Labor Program (Percent of beneficiaries' welfare in the poorest quintile).
  - Benefits Adequacy of SA and Labor Program (Percent of beneficiaries' welfare in the richest quintile).
  - Benefits Adequacy / Benefit‐Cost Ratio and Benefits Incidence charts by quintile and region (SLE, ECOWAS, LIC, SSA).
- Visual metrics indicate comparative performance of Sierra Leone relative to ECOWAS, LIC, and SSA averages for coverage, incidence, and benefit-cost ratios.

---

### Annex VI. Efficiency of Health and Education Spending
- Source: IMF Expenditure Assessment Tool (AET).
- Notes:
  - Dashlines are the average for ECOWAS.
  - Health Efficiency Frontier (Latest Value Available, 0 - 5,000 PPP$): plots Healthy life expectancy, 2019 against Total health expenditure per capita, PPP$ for Sierra Leone, ECOWAS, LIDCs.
  - Government Education Spending and Outcome, Secondary (Latest Value Available): plots Net enrollment - secondary (in %) against Education spending per student, PPP$, secondary for Sierra Leone, ECOWAS, LIDCs.

---

### Annex VII. Execution of Education Expenditure Relative to Budget Allocation, 2019-23
- Expenditure components (values expressed per year):
  - Wages and Salaries: 95.8 100 104.5 107.6 92.3
  - Non-Salary, Non-Interest, Recurrent Expenditures: 100.8 77.5 114.7 122.3 78.2
  - Domestic Capital: 20.7 47 102 71.1 93.6
  - Total: 94 82.6 105.3 95.2 91.2
- Notes:
  1. The years 2020, 2022 and 2023 include supplementary budget figures.
  2. Total non-salary, non-Interest, recurrent expenditures for education include expenditure for basic education, technical and higher education, grants devolved to education services to local councils, law school, civil service training commission, teaching hospitals.

---

### Annex VIII. Execution of Health Expenditure Relative to Budget Allocation, 2019-23
- Expenditure components (values expressed per year):
  - Wages and Salaries: 126.6 115.5 102.2 108.8 98.6
  - Non-Salary, Non-Interest, Recurrent Expenditures: 39 111 151.1 77.6 93.6
    - Ministry of Health: 54.3 73.9 145.2 250.8 132.6
    - Agencies and programs including NaCOVERC: 52.5 117.2 152.4 48.9 63.5
    - Agencies and programs excluding NaCOVERC: 52.5 77.3 54.5 101 63.5
  - Domestic Capital: 7.8 70.2   1,915.5 0360 79.5
  - Total: 75.2 103.3 135.4 104 96.8
- Notes:
  1. The years 2020, 2022 and 2023 include supplementary budget figures.
  2. Total non-salary, non-Interest, recurrent expenditures for health include expenditure for MoH, pharmacy board services, grants devolved to health services to local councils, medical supply agency, health service commission, HIV & AIDS commission, dental and medical board, NaCOVERC.
  3. Recurrent expenditure to MoH include administrative and operating costs, overseas treatments, drugs distribution, ambulance services.
  4. Transfers to NaCOVERC was for COVID-19 pandemic. 2023 had allocation for NaCOVERC but no actual disbursement was done given the ease in COVID-19 pandemic.

---

### Annex IX. SDG Financing Scenarios (IMF Staff calculations)
- Variables presented across scenarios:
  - Scenarios: Baseline; Spending Rationalization (A); Spending Rationalization (A) + Revenue Mobilization (B); Spending Rationalization (A) + Revenue Mobilization (B) + Structural Reforms (C).
- GDP per capita (in 2019 USD):
  - in 2030: 1237 1235 1227 1233
  - in 2050: 1827 1850 1869 2089
- Revenue and grants (percent of GDP) in 2050: 11.4 11.4 15.6 15.6
- SDG Financing — Additional grants needed annually to meet health and education SDG by 2035 (percent of GDP): 5.6 3.8 1.7 0.8

---

### Climate Change and Food Insecurity: Options for Building Resilience in Sierra Leone

### Abstract and Key Conclusion
- Sierra Leone is among the most vulnerable countries in the world to the hazards of climate change.
- Interlinkages: climate shocks, elevated poverty and food insecurity, and high dependency on rain fed agriculture suggest climate strategies must be integrated with social protection.
- Simulation findings:
  - Cash transfers to affected households, external trade liberalization, or lowering the cost of mobility are effective standalone policy responses to food insecurity.
  - A combination of all three policies as a package is likely to be most effective.

### Introduction and Exposure
- Vulnerability drivers:
  - Poor adaptive capacity; low resilience of key economic sectors; weak social economic indicators; high dependency on rain-fed agriculture; low insurance penetration; limited fiscal space.
  - Rain-fed agriculture represents some 30 percent of GDP.
- Modeling approach:
  - A macro spatial model calibrated to Sierra Leone’s key socioeconomic indicators is used to estimate impacts of shocks to domestic agricultural productivity.
  - Results indicate climate shocks could have persistent negative impacts on output and food security.
- Policy implication:
  - Boosting social protection programs, reducing cost of food imports, or lowering cost of mobility could build resilience to climate shocks.

### Climate Risks and Projections
- Historical and projected temperature:
  - Average annual temperatures have increased by 1.32°C relative to the 1950-1980 period.
  - Climate models project temperatures to increase:
    - from 27.5°C to 27.7°C by 2050 and from 27.6°C to 28.1°C by 2070 (consensus scenarios).
    - In a high emission, fast-warming scenario (SSP3-7.0) average temperatures could increase to 28.9°C by 2070.
- Precipitation:
  - Significant uncertainty on direction and magnitude; consensus projects total annual precipitations will not change.
- Vulnerability ranking:
  - Sierra Leone is among the 10 percent most vulnerable countries to climate change impacts (Text Figure 3 (b)).
- Exposure to natural disasters and human impact:
  - Exposed to floods, landslides, storms, and wildfires.
  - High percentage of informal population residing in hazard-prone areas; over 60 percent of the urban population lives in informal settlements, with 25 percent of urban residents occupying coastal and low elevation areas.
  - 2017 landslide in the western area killed more than 1,000 people.
- Health and infrastructure risks:
  - Climate change could heighten health risks (extreme heat exposure, contamination of water and sanitation systems).
  - Natural disasters likely associated with significant financial costs:
    - A 1 in 25 years severity floods would cause damages of US$75 million (some 1.1 percent of 2024 GDP).
    - 1 in 50 years floods could cause damages of up to US$124 million (some 1.8 percent of 2024 GDP).
- Recent policy development:
  - In 2024, the government published a disaster risk financing strategy and implementation plan (2024-2029) to strengthen coordination and improve management of financial risks related to natural disasters.

*Prepared By Isabela Duarte (FAD) and Garth Nicholls (AFR). Sources within the chapter: IMF Climate Dataset (Massetti and Tagklis, 2023); World Bank; ASPIRE; IMF staff calculations; Government Budget and Statement of Economic and Financial Policies (2024).*

### 7.      Food insecurity has increased steadily since 2015, and now affects over 80 percent of

### 7.      Food insecurity has increased steadily since 2015, and now affects over 80 percent of 

### Food insecurity status and drivers
- Over 80 percent of the population is affected by food insecurity.
- The level of food insecurity in SLE is much higher than the median for the SSA and LICs as a group.
- According to WFP’s September 2023 Food Security Monitoring System Report:
  - More than 70 percent of the surveyed population spent more than 75 percent of their total expenditure on food, compared to 15 percent in August 2019.
  - 70 percent of the surveyed population relied on livelihood coping strategies, including purchasing food on credit, dissaving, selling productive assets, reducing health and educational spending, or eating seed stocks.
- Rice is the main staple, representing some 30 percent of total agricultural production.
- Agricultural production represents some 60 percent of employment and some 30 percent of GDP.
- Rice production relies heavily on early season rainfall (March to May), which has been decreasing.

### Climate shocks, past shocks, and vulnerability
- Extreme weather events (floods, droughts) could reduce rice yields; available evidence indicates yield losses could vary from 27 to 40 percent.
- Ebola pandemic impact on rice production:
  - Annual rice production fell from 1.2 million t in 2014 to 0.87 million t in 2015, a reduction of close to 30 percent.
  - Production remained below 1 million t for an extended period, only returning to pre-Ebola levels in 2021.
  - Immediate impacts included reduced planting during the 2015 June-August season, labor shortages, and transportation restrictions; persistence tied to loss of productive assets and structural constraints.
- Reliance on imports:
  - In 2021, Sierra Leone imported 641,000 tons of rice, an amount close to 27 percent of total supply.
  - Heavy reliance on imports increases vulnerability to exchange rate variations and short-term international price shocks.

### Modeling methodology and calibration
- A general equilibrium open economy spatial model with heterogeneous households, trade and migration linkages, subsistence consumption of food, limited access to finance, limited urban-rural mobility, and the possibility of selling productive capital is used to assess impacts.
- Primary calibration data:
  - Household expenditure survey (2018) and the macroeconomic framework (Annex IV).
  - Other variables without primary Sierra Leone data use data from similar countries (noted in Annex IV).
- Food insecurity measured by undernourishment and calorie deficit.
- Climate shock modeled as a one-time two standard deviation shock to agricultural productivity (measured via growth in yields from primary cereals during 1961-2021, FAOSTA database).

### Quantitative analysis: Impact of a 32 percent decrease in agricultural productivity
- The shock is described as a 32 percent fall in agricultural productivity (modeled as two standard deviations of growth in yields from primary cereals during 1961-2021).
- Projected impacts on Sierra Leone:
  - Food price increase: 21 percent.
  - Rise in undernourishment: 23 percent.
  - Declines in real wages and GDP.
  - Reduced capital stock on the supply side.
  - Falls in food consumption and caloric intake.
  - Increased rural-to-urban (and external) migration.
  - Duration: impacts on undernourishment, calorie intake, consumption, assets, capital and migration could last for at least 5 years or more.
- Note: elsewhere in the text a calibrated shock is described as a 33 percent decrease in agricultural productivity; both 32 percent and 33 percent are reported in the source.

### Policy options and modeled impacts
- Increased Cash Transfers to Affected Households
  - Scenario: 2 percent increase in income tax, levied on total population, to pay for cash transfers to the 80 percent of the population most at risk of food insecurity.
  - Steady-state outcomes:
    - Undernourishment lowered by about 27 percent.
    - Household utility increases by 4 percent.
    - Distributional impact favors rural households: larger fall in food prices for rural households, proportionally higher increase in income (farm income share higher), reduction in urban-rural real wage gap, larger proportional rise in rural household assets.
  - Cash transfers support consumption, raise utility, and avoid full drawdown of rural capital, facilitating replanting and productivity recovery (shortening shock duration).

- Lower Migration Costs
  - Scenario: 25 percent decrease in migration costs.
  - Steady-state outcomes:
    - Undernourishment 6.1 percent lower.
    - Household utility higher by 2 percent.
    - Rural households benefit most: larger fall in food prices for rural households, higher intake of calories in new steady state; urban households’ calorie intake is lower.
    - Increase in share of rural assets and farm income; urban-rural wage gap lower by 4.7 percent.
  - Mechanism: increased migration provides households additional income diversification, protecting consumption and capital.

- Lower Trade Costs
  - Scenario: 25 percent decrease in trade costs.
  - Steady-state outcomes:
    - Undernourishment falls by about 60 percent.
    - Household utility increases by about 13 percent.
    - Distributional impact favors the urban sector: urban households gain proportionally more; share of farm income declines; urban-rural wage gap moves in favor of the urban sector by 11 percent.
  - Mechanism: trade liberalization allows more imports of cheaper food, capping domestic food price increases and cushioning real wages, thereby reducing the need to draw down capital.

- Policy Package (Cash Transfer + Lower Migration Costs + Lower Trade Costs)
  - Steady-state outcomes:
    - Undernourishment about 80 percent lower.
    - Household utility 19 percent higher.
    - Urban-rural real wage gap increases by only 5.7 percent (less than the 11 percent increase under standalone lower trade costs).
  - Combined mechanisms:
    - Cash transfers prevent large capital drawdowns.
    - Lower migration costs allow income diversification and protect consumption.
    - Lower trade costs increase imports of lower-cost food, capping domestic food prices and supporting real wages.
  - Net result: the package reduces the duration and severity of the shock, improves overall utility, preserves capital, and mitigates adverse distributional effects of standalone trade liberalization.

### Conclusions and policy recommendations
- Sierra Leone is among the 10 percent most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change due to weak socio-economic indicators, large dependency on rain-fed agriculture, and low adaptive capacity.
- A modeled 33 percent decrease in agricultural productivity (also reported as 32 percent elsewhere) would have a significant negative impact on output and food security indicators, with effects persisting for up to five years.
- Policy implications:
  - Boosting social protection programs (targeted cash transfers), reducing trade costs, and lowering migration costs can each build resilience to climate shocks.
  - A combination of all three policy responses is preferred because it yields larger reductions in food insecurity, boosts household utility, and mitigates downsides of individual measures.
  - Constraints:
    - Limited fiscal space and weak administrative capacity may limit the scope and effectiveness of cash transfer responses.
    - Reducing import costs is effective but can increase urban-rural inequality.
    - Lowering migration costs helps coping but may reduce future potential output as labor migrates.

### Annex highlights: Building resilient infrastructure and mudslide risk
- Energy, water, sanitation, and transportation are vulnerable to changing precipitation, deforestation, storm surge, sea level rise, and flooding.
  - Bumbuna hydro plant generates about 50 MW during rainy season and 5 MW during dry season; climate-induced changes in precipitation and water flow could reduce Bumbuna’s reliability, increasing dependence on imports.
  - Guma Dam, main source of clean water in Freetown, is threatened by unpredictable rainfall patterns and loss of forest cover in catchment areas.
  - Roads are vulnerable to flash floods and intensified heavy rainfall, accelerating deterioration of unpaved roads and potentially compromising food distribution networks.
- The 2024 C-PIMA report recommendations for integrating climate resilience into public investment management include improving project information, reviewing pipeline projects, incorporating climate sensitivity in project appraisal and selection, and identifying climate-related projects in budget documents.
- Mudslides and environmental hazards:
  - Sierra Leone is prone to landslides, floods, diseases, coastal erosion, sea level rise, and storm surge, exacerbated by climate change and unplanned urbanization.
  - Western Area has experienced heavy landslides linked to rapid urbanization in landslide-prone areas, construction along streams, deforestation, and excessive rainfall; developments expanded into mountainous areas since the 1980s.

*SIERRA LEONE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND*

### 4.      Following the Civil War, Freetown experienced a surge in population, economic activities, and

### 4.      Following the Civil War, Freetown experienced a surge in population, economic activities, and infrastructure development.

### Urban expansion, environmental impacts, and disaster profiles
- Mountainous forests on the Freetown Peninsula have become a hot spot for gathering timber, firewood and charcoal.
- Urban and peri-urban farming shifted from lowland grasslands to mangrove swamps due to exponential increases in land values driven by high residential and industrial demand.
- Growing economic exploitation of mangroves has resulted in significant depletion of mangrove ecologies (Mansaray et al., 2016).
- Hazard frequency and impacts:
  - Flooding, storms and fires occur frequently but rarely cause significant impact on the Sierra Leonean economy.
  - Landslides and epidemics occur less frequently but have had catastrophic effects in terms of number of people affected and economic disruption (EM-DAT database).

### August 2017 Freetown rainfall event and landslide
- Intense rains in early August 2017 totaled 1,040 millimeters (39 inches), more than three times the annual average for that time of year.
- A landslide in the mountainous town of Regent turned into a destructive slurry that traveled across the city, sweeping away homes and killing hundreds; characterized as the most devastating natural disaster in recent memory.

### Damages and economic impact (World Bank assessment)
- Around 6,000 people were affected.
- 1,141 were reported missing or dead.
- Over 3,000 lost their houses.
- Nearly 80 percent of the losses and damages were attributed to the housing, health, and social protection sectors.
- Practically all areas of the urban economy were affected.
- Estimated overall economic impact of the landslide and floods: approximately USD 31.65 million (SLL 237 billion).
- Estimated initial cost of resilient recovery: around USD 82.41 million (SLL 618 billion).

### Annex III — Summary of Spatial Model of Food Insecurity (framework and mechanisms)
- Population composed of rural and urban households:
  - Rural households own and operate a farm and can supply a share of labor to non-food firms for a wage.
  - Rural households are heterogeneous in human capital affecting farm and non-farm income.
  - Urban households supply labor exclusively to the non-food sector.
- Consumption and production:
  - Households consume two types of goods: food and non-food.
  - Food is modeled as a necessity: the share of spending on food falls as consumption rises; non-food is a luxury good.
  - Food consumption linked to caloric intake with a minimum threshold below which household is considered undernourished.
  - Food is produced in rural areas; land productivity differs across locations. Non-food goods produced by perfectly competitive firms.
- Spatial frictions and mobility:
  - Goods trade between rural and urban areas and with the rest of the world at given trade cost.
  - Rural households can migrate to urban areas and to the rest of the world at a bilateral migration cost.
- Financial constraints:
  - Rural households do not have access to finance; all capital for agriculture must be financed through savings.
- Responses to climate and trade shocks:
  - Negative climate shocks affect domestic agricultural productivity.
  - Climate shocks in trade partners can increase cost of food imports.
  - Household responses include drawing down savings, increasing food imports, or migrating.
  - Households near undernourishment threshold likely to sharply reduce capital buffers or dissave, harming future consumption.

### Policy tools evaluated in the model
- Three types of policy responses examined:
  - i) policies that reduce the cost of food imports,
  - ii) policies that reduce the cost of domestic migration,
  - iii) social support policies that increase the share of rural households with access to cash transfers.

### Annex IV — Model Calibration (selected calibration values)
- Share of rural-urban migrants: 0.28 (Assumption)
- Share of rural-foreign migrants: 0.03 (Household survey)
- Real wage domestic [rural,urban]: [1,1.5] (Household survey)
- Real wage foreign: 4.4 (Assumption)
- Population shares [rural, urban]: [0.56. 0.44] (World Bank)
- Share of farm labor (rural): 0.60 (Assumption)
- Assets to income ratio: 0.66 (Assumption)
- Average daily calorie intake: 2270 (FAOStat)
- Share of undernourished: 0.28 (FAOStat)
- Urban-rural income gap (Y_urban/Y_rural): 1.50 (Household survey)
- Average food share (rural): 0.65 (Household survey)
- Average food share (urban): 0.42 (Household survey)
- Import share (agriculture): 0.22 (IMF, Macroeconomic Framework)
- Import share (non-agriculture): 0.11 (IMF, Macroeconomic Framework)
- Export share (agriculture): 0.07 (IMF, Macroeconomic Framework)
- Export share (non-agriculture): 0.03 (IMF, Macroeconomic Framework)

### Annex V — Impulse Response Scenarios (model experiments)
- Figure scenarios simulated:
  - Impact of a 32 Percent Decrease in Agricultural Productivity on Households with Cash Transfers.
  - Impact of a 32 Percent Decrease in Agricultural Productivity on Households with Lower Migration Cost.
  - Impact of a 32 Percent Decrease in Agricultural Productivity on Households with Lower Trade Cost.
  - Impact of a 32 Percent Decrease in Agricultural Productivity on Households with the Policy Package.
- Source: Model Simulations

### Inflation and macroeconomic policy in Sierra Leone — key findings and statistics
- Recent inflation dynamics:
  - Inflation increased from 18 percent in 2021 to 37 percent in 2022, before peaking at 56 percent end October 2023.
  - Inflation decreased to 36 percent as of May 2024 but remains elevated and above the Bank of Sierra Leone’s medium-term objective of single-digit inflation.
- CPI basket and weights:
  - CPI basket contains 440 items; weights derived from Sierra Leone Integrated Household Survey of 2018.
  - Food makes up 40 percent of the basket.
  - Housing and utilities: 8.9 percent.
  - Transport: 8.6 percent.
- Food inflation and food-security impact:
  - Food inflation peaked at 65 percent in October 2023; inflation rates for some staples above 100 percent.
  - World Food Program estimated that 78 percent of households faced severe food insecurity in 2023.
- Price policy changes (August–September 2023):
  - Fuel pump prices rose by 40 percent in August 2023.
  - Electricity prices rose by 91 percent in September 2023.
- Fiscal and monetary stance (selected figures and trends):
  - Overall primary deficit in percent of GDP increased from 1.2 percentage points of GDP in 2019 to around 3.6 percentage points in 2022.
  - Year-on-year reserve-money growth:
    - 8.7 percent in December 2021.
    - 32 percent in December 2022.
    - 63 percent in June 2023.
  - The acceleration of reserve money growth is highly correlated with the rise in inflation.
  - The BSL increased its policy rate by 8 percentage points between January 2022 and March 2024, but ex-post real interest rates remained negative.
- Main conclusion on policies:
  - Loose fiscal and monetary policies contributed substantially to the sharp increase in inflation.
  - Evidence from an SVAR indicates monetary and fiscal policies explain more than half of the inflation surge in 2022 and 2023.
  - Key policy implication: macroeconomic tightening supported by the new ECF arrangement will be critical to continue bringing inflation down towards the BSL’s medium-term objective of single-digit inflation.

*Source: IMF staff chapter and annexes in 1sleea2024002-print-pdf (selected excerpts).*

### 12.      We identify B up to column ordering by exploiting that the variance of the structural

### 12.      We identify B up to column ordering by exploiting that the variance of the structural errors 훆풕 is time-varying

### Identification strategy and estimator selection
- Identification exploits time-varying variance of structural errors as in Lewis (2021).
- The Cragg-Donald statistic is used to test the assumption; all rank tests have a p-value smaller than 0.001.
- The Lewis (2021) method yields six potential estimators, 퐵̂푖, 푖 = 1, ... , 6 (column-order ambiguity).
- Estimators 퐵̂푖 are retained only if they satisfy two imposed restrictions (where ∗ indicates no restriction):
  - εᵗ_reserve-money growth sign restriction: rules out that shocks to reserve-money growth can be disinflationary.
  - Primary balance → reserve-money growth sign restriction: rules out that a worsening of the primary balance causes a deceleration of reserve-money growth.
- The imposed restrictions are described as mild and differ from standard SVAR sign restrictions by yielding a finite number of candidate structural covariance matrices rather than infinitely many.

### Historical decomposition results
- The selection process yields two candidate structural covariance matrices, 푩̂₁ and 푩̂₂.
- Historical decomposition charts show contributions to inflation net of the constant and initial conditions, πₜ̄, from:
  - Shocks to reserve money growth (yellow)
  - Shocks to the primary balance (purple)
  - Other inflation shocks (blue)
- Key period findings:
  - Prior to 2017 and between 2020 and 2022:
    - Idiosyncratic shocks to inflation (such as energy-price shocks) account for most of the inflation.
    - For both 푩̂₁ and 푩̂₂, movements are primarily due to innovations εᵗ_other (denoted 휀ₜᵍ in the source).
  - Between 2017 and 2020:
    - The period was disinflationary and macroeconomic policy tightening contributed substantially to decreasing inflation.
    - Innovations in εᵗ_fiscal or εᵗ_monetary (denoted 휀ₜ௧௠ or 휀ₜ௧௕) contributed substantially to decreasing inflation, consistent with tightened policy being successful.
    - The analysis cannot disentangle monetary vs fiscal effects without further restrictions on the structural covariance matrix.
  - From 2022Q3 onwards:
    - More than half of inflation is due to macroeconomic policy shocks.
    - For both 푩̂₁ and 푩̂₂, innovations in εᵗ_fiscal or εᵗ_monetary contributed substantially to increasing inflation.
    - Conclusion: macroeconomic policy was the main driver of inflation from 2022Q3 onwards.

### Conclusion and policy recommendations (inflation analysis)
- Main analytical conclusions:
  - Loose monetary and fiscal policies have played a significant role in driving the recent surge in inflation in Sierra Leone.
  - Fiscal and monetary policy account for more than half of the variation in inflation outturns in the recent inflation surge.
  - Policy tightening contributed to disinflation between 2017 and 2020.
- Policy recommendation:
  - Continued policy tightening in the coming years is needed to bring inflation down to the BSL’s single digit medium-term objective.

---

### Trade costs and facilitation in Sierra Leone

### Background: nature and magnitude of non-tariff trade costs
- Non-tariff trade costs are among the highest in ECOWAS.
- Non-tariff trade costs are classified into three broad categories: (i) costs in getting to the border; (ii) costs at the border; and (iii) trade costs behind the border.
- Key observed indicators and comparisons:
  - Time to import: Sierra Leone 120 hours (about 5 days) compared with 87 (peer comparator).
  - Sierra Leone outperforms peers on time to export but lags SSA LICs such as Kenya on time to export.
  - World Bank and OECD indicators show substantial room for improvement, including automation of formalities, procedural efficiency, internal and external cooperation, and governance and impartiality.
- Trade facilitation definition used covers both at-the-border procedures and behind-the-border measures (UN/CEFACT and OECD interpretation).

### Calibrations and back-of-the-envelope estimates
- Reducing Sierra Leone’s time to import to the level of Senegal (53 hours, about 2.2 days) implies:
  - An ad-valorem equivalent reduction in trade cost of about 7.2 percent (Text Table 4, row 2/col 6).
  - Context: Sierra Leone’s average applied tariffs were 14.2 percent in 2021.
- Reducing time to export to Kenya’s level (35 hours) could boost export growth by about 3.6 percentage points (Text Table 4, row 3/col 7).
- Example revenue impact:
  - If import growth rose by 3.4 percent due to cost reductions, this could increase revenue growth by about 4 percent.
  - Authorities’ MTRS estimates increased revenue yield from customs measures during 2023-27 of about 1.43 percent of GDP, or an average of 0.3 percent of GDP annually.
- Notes on estimation methods:
  - Using Hummels and Schaur (2013) formulation gives an estimated cost reduction of 3.6 percent.
  - Using Carballo et al. (2021) formulation gives an estimated trade cost reduction of 7.2 percent.

### CGE simulation results (formal model)
- Modeling framework:
  - A computable, multi-sector, multicountry, general equilibrium trade model calibrated to Sierra Leone (intensive version; model does not consider capital accumulation).
- Simulation assumptions:
  - All SSA countries lower their NTMs by 22 percent of tariff-equivalent level (to match reducing time to import to OECD level).
  - An additional scenario reduces NTM to match Senegal-level reductions (about 7 percent); results shown in appendix II.
- Main simulation outcomes:
  - Sierra Leone’s welfare (measured by consumption) increases by 0.3 percent.
  - Trade volume increases by 28 percent:
    - Imports increase by 24 percent.
    - Exports increase by 31 percent.
  - Fiscal revenue impact (medium term):
    - Total additional tax revenue of 0.9 percent of GDP.
    - VAT (including excise) on imports increases by about 0.8 percent of GDP.
    - Import tariff revenue could increase by about 0.06 percent of GDP due to better enforcement and administration.
    - Domestic income tax revenue also increases (exact figure not shown in supplied excerpt).

### Policy implications for trade facilitation reform
- Full implementation of customs and revenue administrative measures outlined in the MTRS is key to lowering costs and improving trade facilitation.
- Expected co-benefits:
  - Increased import and export volumes.
  - Increased fiscal revenues.
  - Reduced revenue leakages through corruption due to more transparent procedures.
  - Potential for greater integration of informal enterprises into the formal sector and gains from AfCFTA participation.

*Source: IMF country note (selected pages on identification of structural shocks, historical decomposition of inflation, and trade costs and facilitation in Sierra Leone).*

### 0.06 percent of GDP owing to higher income. On the expenditure side, there is likely to be some

### Trade facilitation and reform framework — Sierra Leone

### Key findings and quantified impacts
- Estimated fiscal impact: "0.06 percent of GDP owing to higher income."
- Non-tariff barriers (NTBs) reduction estimates:
  - "A 35 percent reduction in SLE’s non-tariff barriers could increase welfare by between 1.6 and 2.1 percent of GDP, with a similar impact on revenues."
  - "UNECLAC estimates that reduction of non-tariff measures could raise welfare from the AfCFTA by 2.1 percent of GDP."
- Trade costs are high: "Sierra Leone has some of the highest trade costs within ECOWAS, and trade facilitation is very weak."
- Welfare and fiscal channels:
  - Reductions in trade costs could lower input costs for domestic production and improve competitiveness.
  - Lower trade costs could increase the growth rate of exports and imports and raise fiscal revenues from import duties.
  - Lower import costs that feed into lower domestic prices "directly increases the welfare of domestic consumers."

### Framework for reform (existing multilateral and regional instruments)
- Sierra Leone is a signatory to the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which promotes:
  - publication of information, advance rulings, appeal/review of decisions, freedom of transit, transparency and border agency cooperation, and formalities such as “single-window” systems and bans on mandatory Pre-Shipment Inspection (PSI) for classification/valuation.
- Regional memberships and arrangements:
  - ECOWAS: regional trade facilitation committee supported by UNCTAD to implement the WTO trade facilitation agreement across member countries.
  - AfCFTA: several Annexes outline protocols and inter-state bodies for customs and border administration:
    - Annex III: trade facilitation in customs administration.
    - Annex IV: trade facilitation in cross-border trade procedures.
    - Annex V: protocols for eliminating non-tariff trade barriers (NTB).
    - Annex VIII: goods in transit.
- Domestic strategy: the Medium-Term Revenue Strategy (MTRS) "outlines specific measures for improving administration of core customs functions and strengthening revenue administration."

### Priority reform areas and policy recommendations
- Main reform priorities as highlighted by the National Development Plan (NDP) and the report:
  - (i) Enhance digital infrastructure for customs processes (including Electronic Single Window and ASYCUDA World).
  - (ii) Improve hard trade infrastructure and logistics services to reduce trade times and improve supply-side efficiencies.
  - (iii) Streamline and simplify trade procedures to improve predictability and reduce delivery uncertainties.
  - (iv) Foster better coordination among domestic border agencies and strengthen partnerships with trading-partner customs authorities (ECOWAS and AfCFTA coordination on standards).
  - (v) Ensure transparent and fair governance in trade-related matters to reduce rent-seeking within the supply chain.
- Administrative and enforcement measures to implement under the MTRS framework:
  - Adopt audit and anti-smuggling programs to ensure enforcement of customs laws.
  - Enhance engagement with the private sector trade community to support voluntary compliance.
  - Enhance customs control during the clearance process to ensure accuracy of declarations.
  - Strengthen transparency and accountability with independent external oversight and internal controls.
  - Fully operationalize and roll out ASYCUDA World and strengthen data acquisition and management to support risk management and audit functions.
  - Creation of a revenue taskforce composed of risk management and post-clearance audit units plus a specialist customs inspection team and dedicated intelligence team, with a short-term focus on enhanced revenue collection.

### Text Table 5 — Summary of authorities’ measures for enhancing customs administration (selected measures)
- Strengthening Border Controls:
  - "(i) Seek support from development partners to fully operationalise the Electronic Single Window."
  - "(ii) Explore the feasibility of allowing other OGAs to join the Electronic Single Window platform."
  - "(iii) Automation of internal processes of OGAs and other stakeholders to interface with the Electronic Single Window."
  - "Ensure that all officially designated border crossings, international seaports, and airports are satisfactorily manned by customs and provided with adequate infrastructure."
  - "(iv) Streamline and simplifying the current set of customs processes and procedures."
  - "(v) Ensure customs agents have adequate capacity to undertake valuation, classification and to identify the origin of imported goods."
  - "(vi) Limit the use of sanctions, penalties, and enforcement tools to the purposes they have been designed for to avoid unnecessary delays and costs."
  - "(vii) Strengthen mobile control units with additional staff, equipment, and training; equip units to physically monitor the sea borders."
  - "(viii) Invest resources in intelligence and risk management techniques to support mobile patrol units."
- Improving Compliance:
  - "(ix) Undertake a study to identify the nature of risks and the actual extent and forms of fraud in transit goods..."
  - "(x) Government will review the existing legislations reviews or where necessary introduce new laws..."
  - "(xi) Seek support from development partners such as WTO, UNCTAD, World Bank, and FCDO for training and technical assistance in the transition to HS 2022."
- Enhance Control of Transit:
  - "(i) Collaborate with ECOWAS Secretariat, the customs administrations of neighbouring countries and development partners to design a common regional transit system for goods."
  - "(ii) Train staff and economic operators involved in the system once such a system is designed."
- Enhance Customs Risk Management:
  - "(i) Supplement risk scoring with qualitative reviews of risks and greater use of internal and external sources of data."
  - "(ii) Deepen joint efforts with the Domestic Tax Department to develop risk criteria and profiles to be inputted into the ASYCUDA World Selectivity Module."
- Management of Exemptions:
  - "(i) Define goods granted exemptions unequivocally using HS terms."
  - "(ii) Delegate authority for ensuring the use of exempted goods for the purposes originally stated..."
  - "(iii) Ensure the full implementation of the Duty and Tax Exemption Act to rationalise exemption use."
- Strengthening Customs Valuation:
  - "(i) Acquire a Price Reference Database to support the valuation module and fully operationalise the module in ASYCUDA World."
  - "(ii) Strengthen capacity to detect cases of over-valuation fraud..."
  - "(iii) Pursue MOUs with key stakeholders specifying opportunities for mutual assistance..."
  - "(iv) NRA to explore the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to track and detect issues of technical smuggling."
- Strengthening Post-Clearance Audit (PCA):
  - "(i) Review and refocus PCA activities and upgrade its governance."
  - "(ii) Develop staff capacity through training to enable the PCA team to be effective and efficient."
  - "(iii) Fully enforce the provisions in the revenue laws, strengthening the power of NRA to access critical information during audits."
  - "(iv) Improve coordination of Post-Clearance Audits with DTD to avoid parallel work and undertake joint audits where it provides value."
  - "(v) Improve experience sharing between Customs and DTD, and other customs administrations to support audit work."
- Fully Operationalize and Roll out ASYCUDA World:
  - "(i) Fully operationalize and rollout of ASYCUDA World at all customs offices, including putting in place the necessary IT infrastructure and internet connectivity at all border crossings with Liberia and Guinea, and inland offices."
  - "(ii) Fully utilise the outstanding modules of ASYCUDA World."
  - "(iii) Strengthen the capacity of the IT Directorate to ensure full control over initiating, managing, and overseeing the development of IT administration policies..."
- Strengthening Data Acquisition and Management:
  - "(i) Facilitate changes in legislation allowing access to banking data to strengthen valuation control."
  - "(ii) Implement a system for receiving and processing electronic declarations from traders, including enforcement of provisions in current legislations for the use of electronic signatures."

### Implementation caveats and sequencing
- Reforms should be holistic and tackle costs:
  - "Measures are needed to tackle trade cost before the border, costs at the border and costs behind the border."
  - Reforms should "prioritize the points along the continuum which can yield the highest return, and for which the domestic capacity exist to do so."
  - Guard against efficiency gains being captured as rents elsewhere: "efforts must be made to ensure that efficiency gains from reforms in one part of the process is not captured as rents elsewhere along the supply chain, thereby preventing an overall fall in trade costs."
- Capacity constraint: "The key issue now is building up the capacity to fully implement plans as laid out in the MTRS."

### Appendix I — The trade model (methodology summary)
- The analysis uses the general equilibrium trade model from Costinot and Rodriguez-Clare (2014) to calibrate impacts of improved trade facilitation.
- Model characteristics:
  - Static, multi-sector, multi-country model with perfect competition and flexibility to incorporate features from Krugman (1980), Eaton and Kortum (2002), and Melitz (2003).
  - Based on the Armington model (Armington, 1969) with extensions.
  - Uses input-output table from the Eora Global Supply Chain Database to calibrate consumption shares and elasticities from Abrego et al. (2019).
- Model primitives and notation are preserved as in the source text (price index P, expenditures Ej,s, sales Ri,s, entry costs Ce_i,s, production costs Cp_i,s, structural parameters ξ_i j,s, and margin/selection/extensive-margin parameterizations).

### Appendix II — Scenario summary
- The report includes "Results of a Seven Percent Reduction in NTM" (model simulations), summarized in the source material.

*Source: IMF — Sierra Leone chapter on trade facilitation and reforms (excerpts).*

### 3.      This paper reviews the current state of gender equality in Sierra Leone, quantifies the

### 3.      This paper reviews the current state of gender equality in Sierra Leone, quantifies the gains from higher gender equality, and provides select policy recommendations.  

### Key Targets for Women’s Empowerment (MTNDP 2024-2030)
- Women’s access to finance and financial services drastically increased  
  - Baseline 2024: 25%  
  - 2025: 30%  
  - 2026: 35%  
  - 2027: 40%  
  - 2028: 45%  
  - 2029: 50%  
  - 2030: 55%  
  - Target 2030 end: 60%  
- Adolescent pregnancy reduced to 10 percent  
  - Baseline 2024: 21%  
  - 2025: 19.6%  
  - 2026: 18.0%  
  - 2027: 16.4%  
  - 2028: 14.8%  
  - 2029: 13.2%  
  - 2030: 11.6%  
  - Target 2030 end: 10%  
- Physical and sexual assault cases reduced to 1,000  
  - Baseline: 2,939  
  - Subsequent annual targets: 2,662; 2,385; 2,108; 1,831; 1,554; 1,277; 1,000

### Gender Equality in Outcomes and Representation — Progress and Remaining Gaps
- Labor force and informality
  - Gender gap in labor force participation widened from nearly zero percent in 2003 to almost 4.8 percent in 2023.  
  - Nearly half of women aged 15+ are out of the labor force; nearly 44 percent of men aged 15+ are out of the labor force.  
  - Labor informality: women 96.6 percent; men 89.3 percent (ILO’s 2018 estimates).  
  - Note: a U-shaped labor force function is referenced (Goldin 1995; Tam 2011; Chapman 2015).
- Leadership and political representation
  - Women represented 21.5 percent of those employed in senior and middle management in 2018.  
  - The Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Act of 2022 was passed; 2023 elections followed.  
  - 2023 general elections results: women won 41 out of 135 seats (30.4 percent of elected seats); one woman indirectly elected for 14 reserved local leader seats; overall representation 28.2 percent.  
- Gender differentials in decision making (Text Table 2)
  - Cabinet Ministers: 2018 Female 20.0 / Male 80.0; 2023 Female 34.5 / Male 65.5  
  - Deputy Ministers: 2018 Female 20.0 / Male 80.0; 2023 Female 33.0 / Male 67.0  
  - Members of Parliament: 2018 Female 12.3 / Male 87.6; 2023 Female 30.0 / Male 70.0  
  - Mayors/Chairpersons: 2018 Female 28.5 / Male 71.4; 2023 Female 41.0 / Male 59.0  
  - Councilors: 2018 Female 18.7 / Male 81.2; 2023 Female 34.0 / Male 66.0

### Macroeconomic Implications of Closing Labor Market Gender Gaps
- IMF Equity Gains Toolkit (based on 2018 data) estimates:
  - Closing gender gaps in the labor market could yield potential GDP gains of 7.2 percent.  
  - Closing gender gaps in earnings accounts for a 3.7 percent GDP gain.  
  - Closing gaps in hours worked accounts for a 2.1 percent GDP gain.  
- IMF Output Gains Toolkit (Ostry et al. 2018 methodology):
  - Fully closing the gender gap in labor force participation alone could boost GDP by four percent.  
- Complementarity of female and male labor noted as amplifying potential gains.

### Legal Rights — Progress and Gaps
- Recent legal reforms (October 2022–2024) and provisions:
  - Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act 2022:
    - Provides for a 30 percent quota for women in both elected and appointed positions.  
    - Mandates every ministry, government department and agency to have a gender unit.  
    - Introduces 14 weeks of maternity leave.  
  - Public Elections Act 2022: for every three parliamentary candidates nominated, one should be female.  
  - Employment Act 2023:
    - Prohibits discrimination by gender in employment and occupation.  
    - Requires equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value.  
    - Prohibits unfair dismissal based on pregnancy.  
  - Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2024:
    - Makes it illegal to marry or engage in relationships with a child under the age of 18.  
    - Forbids presiding over, encouraging, attending a child marriage ceremony, or giving assent to marriage or cohabitation.  
    - Aims to ensure access to education and support services for young girls affected by child marriage.  
    - All child marriages conducted after this act takes effect are void.
- World Bank Women Business in the Law Report (2024) scores:
  - Overall legal score for Sierra Leone: 72.5 (out of 100).  
  - Sub-Saharan Africa average: 57.4 (out of 100).  
  - Supportive frameworks score for Sierra Leone: 34.2 (out of 100).  
  - Sub-Saharan Africa supportive frameworks average: 24.5 (out of 100).  
- Identified gaps:
  - Childcare services and workplace provisions.  
  - Need to establish processes and regulations to ensure effective implementation and enforcement.

### Education — Progress and Remaining Gaps
- Government priorities and policies:
  - Increased education sector spending since 2017; in 2023 the budget allocation to the sector was about 22 percent.  
  - Free Quality School Education policy (up to secondary level).  
  - National Policy on Radical Inclusion in Schools targets pregnant females, parent learners, children with disabilities, children from rural and neglected areas, and children from low-income families.
- Gross Enrolment Rates (Text Table 3)
  - Pre-Primary:
    - 2017 Boys 11.3 / Girls 12.5 / Both 11.9  
    - 2022 Boys 24.0 / Girls 26.0 / Both 25.0  
  - Primary:
    - 2017 Boys 118.0 / Girls 119.9 / Both 118.5  
    - 2022 Boys 152.0 / Girls 162.0 / Both 157.0  
  - Junior Secondary:
    - 2017 Boys 56.1 / Girls 55.7 / Both 55.9  
    - 2022 Boys 102.0 / Girls 110.0 / Both 106.0  
  - Senior Secondary:
    - 2017 Boys 28.2 / Girls 25.0 / Both 26.6  
    - 2022 Boys 84.0 / Girls 90.0 / Both 86.0
- Learning outcomes and constraints:
  - National Early Grade Reading and Mathematics Assessment Baseline Study 2021:
    - 64 percent of Grade 2 students unable to comprehend the text they read.  
    - 73 percent of Grade 4 students unable to comprehend the text they read.  
  - Resource constraints: stretched infrastructure from surge in enrolment; insufficient trained and qualified teachers, especially in STEAM subjects; limited teaching and learning materials, especially for pupils with special care and rural communities.
- Examination pass rates:
  - Pass rates in external examinations increased at primary and secondary levels except in 2019 and 2020 (COVID-19 impact).  
  - Pass rates for girls consistently lag boys marginally.

### Health — Progress and Remaining Gaps
- Improvements since the civil war:
  - Maternal mortality in 2020: 443 deaths per 100,000 births (UNICEF 2023).  
  - Adolescent fertility rates have been declining since 1960.
- Health budget and investments:
  - National budget allocation to health increased from 7.5 percent in 2018 to 10 percent in 2023 (below Abuja Declaration target of at least 15 percent).  
  - Notable expenditures: rehabilitation of hospitals, dialysis stations, cancer screening, blood transfusion units, improved vaccine storage.  
  - Increased training, recruitment and deployment of health workers and medical doctors.
- Remaining challenges:
  - Maternal deaths account for 36 percent of all deaths among women aged 15-49 years; obstetric hemorrhage is the leading direct cause.  
  - Need to enhance access to quality maternal healthcare services, improve dietary practices, promote nutrition education and counselling on antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum care, and address underlying social and economic determinants (MTNDP 2023-2030).

### Financial Inclusion — Progress and Remaining Gaps
- Access and gender differentials:
  - Financial access rates increased but Sierra Leone lags regional comparators.  
  - Women have lower rates of account ownership than other African countries.  
  - Access to mobile money and digital payments is rising but Sierra Leone lags peers; women are less likely to have made or received digital payments.
- Bank of Sierra Leone National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (2022-2026) measures targeting women and youth:
  - Women and Girls FIRST Project:
    - Targets 17,500 rural community members, of which 15,000 are women and girls in 200 rural communities in three districts (Kambia, Port Loko and Kambia).  
    - Focuses on literacy, financial empowerment, confidence building and self-reliance.  
  - Mosabi Product:
    - An educational mobile application providing financial literacy and financial education for low-income women entrepreneurs in deprived communities and rural areas; facilitates qualification for loans.  
  - US$10 million Agricultural Credit Facility:
    - To promote commercialization of agriculture and access to finance for women in agriculture; operating rules developed and implementation will soon commence.  
  - Deployment of the National Payment Switch (Phase 1):
    - Strengthen financial infrastructure and connectivity; enhance digital payments through interoperability (ATM + Point of Sale (POS) transactions).  
    - Establishment of Instant Payments underway; plans to broaden connections to the international gateway.

### Macroeconomic Implications of Narrowing Opportunity Gaps
- Malta and Newiak (2020) finding:
  - Closing gender gaps in education in each income quintile in Sierra Leone could boost overall human capital and yield more than eight percent GDP gains in the medium to long term.  
- Fiscal and distributional impacts:
  - Higher female education and labor force participation would increase female income and purchasing power, boosting goods and services demand and income tax revenues by an estimated 0.6 percent of GDP.  
  - Equalizing educational attainment across income quintiles would mitigate income inequality, particularly since education gaps are largest in the first and second income quintiles.

### Gender-Based Violence and Harmful Practices — Progress and Remaining Gaps
- Prevalence and forms:
  - High incidence of gender-based violence, including intimate partner violence.  
  - 2019 DHS: about one in two women experienced physical or sexual violence by their intimate partner or husband in their lifetime; four in ten women experienced such violence over the 12 months preceding the survey.  
- Child marriage:
  - 9 percent of girls get married by age 15; almost three in ten by age 18.  
  - Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2024 enacted to address this.
- Macroeconomic costs:
  - Gender-based violence reduces hours worked and productivity per hour and undermines human capital formation and investment (Duvvury and others 2013).  
  - Ouedraogo and Stenzel (2021) for sub-Saharan Africa: a 1 percentage point decrease in the share of women suffering violence could increase per-capita nightlights-based economic activity by up to 9 percent — translating into a 5½ percent gain in per-capita GDP.  
  - Reducing violence against women in Sierra Leone to the level of the 75th percentile in sub-Saharan Africa (reducing the share of women who experience violence by about 3 percentage points) could lift economic activity (nightlight-based) by 24 to 27 percent.  
  - IMF Child Marriage Toolkit: eradicating child marriage completely could yield an increase in per capita growth of 1.2 percentage points.  
- Policy and service responses:
  - Since the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2024, a presidential task force established to combat Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV).  
  - One-stop centers established in major hospitals for SGBV cases and a free hotline (116) provided.

### Conclusions and Policy Recommendations
- Summary assessment:
  - Considerable recent progress in legal system reforms, health, education, employment opportunities, and financial inclusion.  
  - Gender equality is a cross-cutting issue in the five pillars of the MTNDP (2024-2030).  
  - Outcomes for women and girls still lag those for men and boys despite strong policy environment, strategy, guidelines, and legislation.
- Policy recommendations (select)
  - Legal
    - Further strengthen legal rights guided by gaps identified in World Bank (2024).  
    - Strengthen enforcement of new and existing laws.  
    - Advance enactment of the Child Rights Amendment Bill and the Safe Motherhood Bill.  
    - Ensure quotas are enforced; quotas alone may not be sufficient if not enforced.
  - Health
    - Catalyze behavioral change and strengthen Health Management Information System, supply chain management, and outbreak responses.  
    - Increase coordination on equitable access to HIV, Malaria, and TB prevention, treatment, care, and support for priority vulnerable populations.  
    - Invest in adolescent health and nutrition to reduce poor pregnancy outcomes.  
    - Strengthen program and financial management procedures for improved accountability, transparency, and efficient use of funds.
  - Education
    - Increase cash-plus initiatives and improve alternative pathways for out-of-school children, including enrollment drives, radical inclusion policy, and safe school policy.  
    - Prioritize districts and schools with greatest need and the most vulnerable populations; eliminate direct and indirect costs of education.  
    - Institutionalize publication of annual budget and expenditure analyses; create an evidence-based roadmap to increase domestic spending on education.  
    - Revise formula for allocating education funds to be more equitable, including along gender lines and pro-poor.  
    - Scale foundational literacy and numeracy interventions and continuous teacher professional development.
  - Financial inclusion
    - Improve women’s access to digital and financial services, implement client-centric products and services, and bolster financial education and literacy initiatives.  
    - Lower socioeconomic and entry barriers to female participation to facilitate financial inclusion.
  - Gender-based violence and harmful practices
    - Require multi-ministry involvement, sustained efforts to change attitudes, and provision of infrastructure for prevention, reporting and support (including expanding one-stop centers).  
    - Ensure the child marriage law is widely understood and properly enforced and implemented at all levels.

*Source: MTNDP 2024-2030; IMF staff calculations and cited IMF toolkits and studies as presented in the source content.*

### 21.      The government should also establish a comprehensive approach to reduce gender

### 21.      The government should also establish a comprehensive approach to reduce gender 

### Recommendation: comprehensive approach to reduce gender inequality and harmful practices
- Increase investment for gender-transformative programs and policies.  
- Work with civil society organizations and stakeholders to address the traditions and beliefs that frequently devalue women and girls.  
- Strengthen coordination and collaboration within MDAs and among development partners for effective implementation of gender-related reforms and to improve spending efficiency.  

### MTNDP 2024-2030: Key targets (selected education, health, and financial inclusion figures)
- Schools and educational institutions with curriculum responsive to needs of labor market: Baseline Zero; Annual Targets: 2024 14%; 2025 28%; 2026 42%; 2027 56%; 2028 70%; 2029 84%; 2030 100%.  
- Pupil-to-qualified teacher ratio reduced to 43:1: Baseline 63:1; Annual Targets: 2024 60.1:1; 2025 57.2:1; 2026 54.3:1; 2027 51.4:1; 2028 48.5:1; 2029 45.6:1; 2030 43:1.  
- Children with special education needs provided with support: Baseline Zero; Annual Targets: 2024 14%; 2025 28%; 2026 42%; 2027 56%; 2028 70%; 2029 84%; 2030 100%.  
- Maternal mortality rate reduced by 50%: Baseline 443 deaths/100,000; Annual Targets: 2024 411 /1000; 2025 379 /1000; 2026 347 /1000; 2027 315 /1000; 2028 283 /1000; 2029 251 /1000; 2030 219 /1000.  
- Infant mortality reduced by 50%: Baseline 75 deaths/1,000 live births; Annual Targets: 2024 69.7; 2025 64.4; 2026 59.1; 2027 53.8; 2028 48.5; 2029 43.2; 2030 38.  
- Life expectancy increased: Baseline 54.0 years; Annual Targets: 2024 55.57; 2025 57.14; 2026 58.71; 2027 60.28; 2028 61.85; 2029 63.42; 2030 65.0.  
- Health worker density: Baseline 13.4 health workers per 10,000 population; Annual Targets: 2024 14.4; 2025 15.4; 2026 16.4; 2027 17.4; 2028 18.4; 2029 19.4; 2030 20.  
- Access to client-centric financial products and services increased by 40 percent: Baseline 29% (2022); Annual Targets: 2024 31%; 2025 32%; 2026 34%; 2027 36%; 2028 37%; 2029 39%; 2030 40%.  
- Development and usage of digital financial services increased by 60 percent: Baseline 29% (2022); Annual Targets: 2024 32%; 2025 34%; 2026 37%; 2027 39%; 2028 42%; 2029 45%; 2030 47%.  
- Number of active digital financial service users increased: Baseline 2.2m (2021); Annual Targets: 2024 2.7m; 2025 3,2m; 2026 3.7m; 2027 4.2m; 2028 4.7m; 2029 5.2m; 2030 5.7m.  
- Digital economy score increased: Baseline 46% (2020); Annual Targets: 2024 48%; 2025 50%; 2026 52%; 2027 54%; 2028 56%; 2029 58%; 2030 60%.  

### GBV: incidence, reporting, and social attitudes
- Incidence trends (DHS): Share experiencing physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner in past 12 months increased from 28.6 percent (2013 DHS) to 39.8 percent (2019 DHS). Lifetime experience increased from 45 percent to 51.7 percent.  
- In 2019, percentages reporting specific forms of violence in last 12 months: physical 38.2 percent; sexual 6.2 percent; emotional 38.2 percent.  
- Reporting behavior (2019 DHS): About 79 percent of those experiencing physical or sexual violence by husband/partner in the 12 months preceding the survey reached out for help within their own family; less than 14 percent sought help from the police. Social work organizations 1.1 percent; doctors or medical personnel 0.7 percent; lawyer 0.3 percent. Reporting for physical violence: 4 percent sought help from the police (DHS 2019).  
- Attitudes (2019 DHS and Afrobarometer): 49 percent of women and 31 percent of men believed a husband is justified in beating his wife under at least one of five specified circumstances. Specific beliefs: 40 percent of women and 24 percent of men believe a man is justified in beating his wife if she goes out without him; 19 percent of women and 9 percent of men agreed spousal violence is justified if a wife refuses sexual intercourse (DHS 2019). Afrobarometer: 57 percent of Sierra Leoneans see GBV as a private family matter; 37 percent consider it a criminal issue. By 2019, help-seeking from family 81.6 percent; seeking police’s help 3.9 percent. Afrobarometer finding: 85 percent believed the police would take GBV seriously if reported (Afrobarometer 2022).  

### Institutional responses and recent developments
- Government and legal milestones: Declaration of rape as a national emergency by the President in 2019; amendment of the sexual offenses act to increase penalties in 2019; establishment of a special court to fast-track sexual offense cases in 2020. Medium Term NDPs 2019-2023 and 2024-2030 integrate GBV as a priority and enabler of gender equality.  
- Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs (established 2019): initiated seven one-stop centers; set up a hotline for reporting violence; developed a national male involvement strategy; launched GBVIMS+ in 2023 with UNICEF and UNFPA support—Sierra Leone is the first country in a non-humanitarian context to implement GBVIMS+, and the first country where a government is leading the roll-out.  
- Civil society and partner initiatives: Seven Rainbo Centres run by the Rainbo Initiative; Black Tuesday Movement (formed 2019); Hands Off Our Girls movement (launched 2018). European Union financing agreement in 2024 to implement the Spotlight Initiative in Sierra Leone, to be implemented by the UN and civil society in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs and other partners.  

### Economic case for reducing violence against women
- Empirical elasticity: A one percentage point reduction in intimate partner violence increases GDP by 8-9 percent (measured by night-light data) (Ouedraogo and Stenzel 2021).  
- Sub-Saharan Africa estimate applied to Sierra Leone: Decreasing the share of women suffering from violence by 1 percentage point could increase per-capita nightlights-based economic activity by up to 9 percent—translating into a 5½ percent gain in per-capita GDP (Ouedraogo and Stenzel 2021). Reducing violence in Sierra Leone to the level of the 75th percentile in sub-Saharan Africa (about a 3 percentage point reduction in the share of women who experience violence) could lift economic activity as measured by nightlight data from 24 to 27 percent.  
- Costs of GBV (United Nations 2005 framework): direct tangible costs (transportation, shelter, health services, judiciary services); indirect tangible costs (lost earnings and productivity); direct intangible costs (pain, suffering, violent death); indirect intangible costs (negative effects on children’s psychology and intergenerational perpetuation of violence).  

### Drivers of intimate partner violence (evidence and correlates)
- Identified risk factors: lower education levels (Nabaggala 2021; Klomegah 2008); poor health (Ellsberg and others 2008); husband’s alcohol consumption (Hatcher and others 2014); familial violence history (UNDP 2022; Dalal and others 2012).  
- Economic and social factors: Economic or social disenfranchisement diminishes women’s autonomy and increases IPV risk. Economic dependency due to unstable employment can place women in vulnerable positions and potentially lead to coercion into unwanted sexual activities or tolerating violence for economic support (Dalal and others 2012; Rahman and others 2011; Vest and others 2002).  
- Protective factor: Enhanced participation of women in household decision-making is associated with a reduced likelihood of all forms of IPV (Nabaggala 2021; Dalal and others 2012).  

### Policy implications and recommended components of a holistic response
- Multisectoral coordination: Involvement of several ministries is necessary to change attitudes and provide infrastructure for prevention, reporting, and support. Strengthen coordination within MDAs and among development partners.  
- Service expansion and quality: Expand one-stop centers and support enforcement of existing laws. Strengthen data collection and monitoring (e.g., GBVIMS+).  
- Prevention programs: Implement programs to reduce alcohol consumption given the strong relationship between violence incidence and alcohol consumption. Advance male engagement strategies to involve men and boys as agents of change.  
- Financing and sustainability: Secure domestic financing to ensure sustainability of partner-funded programs and expansion of services.  
- Community and civil-society engagement: Work with civil society organizations and movements to address harmful practices (for example, child marriage) and to shift social norms that justify violence.  

*Source: Excerpt from IMF country chapter on Sierra Leone (page content provided).*

### 16.      Studies on sub-Saharan Africa also reveal varied drivers of IPV. Data from the DHS

### 16.      Studies on sub-Saharan Africa also reveal varied drivers of IPV. Data from the DHS

### Determinants and data sources
- Data source: Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) with Domestic Violence module; Sierra Leone DHS waves including the domestic violence module: 2008, 2013, 2019.
- Population studied: ever-married women aged 15 to 49 (cross-sectional surveys).
- Outcome measures: binary indicators of violence occurring within the 12 months preceding each survey for (1) physical violence, (2) combined physical and sexual violence, and (3) comprehensive physical, sexual, and emotional violence.
- Rationale for 12-month window: selected to circumvent influence of historically elevated lifetime violence rates.

### Statistical approach and model fit
- Method: Multivariate logistic regression estimating marginal effects for the three binary outcomes.
- Observations:
  - Any physical violence model: 5,979 observations.
  - Any physical or sexual violence model: 5,967 observations.
  - Any physical or sexual or emotional violence model: 5,967 observations.
- Hosmer-Lemeshow test values (goodness of fit):
  - Physical violence model: 0.533.
  - Physical and sexual violence model: 0.339.
  - Physical, sexual, and emotional violence model: 0.077.
- Note on limitations: cross-sectional design (no causation), restricted sample (ever-married women 15–49), reliance on self-reported data (recall bias, cultural sensitivity).

### Key statistical findings (marginal effects from Text Table 1)
- Year effects:
  - 2019: 0.107 ***, -0.001, 0.006 for the three outcome specifications respectively (significant increase for physical violence only).
- Individual factors:
  - Age squared: -0.000; significance ** for models (2) and (3).
  - Current age: 0.006; 0.009 **; 0.008 **.
  - Father ever beat her mother: 0.179 ***; 0.036 ***; 0.021 ***.
  - Employed for cash or non-cash: -0.016; -0.005; 0.002.
  - Secondary education or higher: 0.042 *; 0.002; -0.001.
- Relationship factors:
  - Husband sometimes drunk: 0.219 ***; 0.006; 0.003.
  - Husband often drunk: 0.293 ***; 0.054 ***; 0.062 ***.
  - Husband secondary education or higher: -0.006; -0.002; -0.001.
  - Agree that husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife for at least one reason: 0.081 ***; 0.018 **; 0.015 **.
  - Woman not included in decision making on household purchases, her income, or partner’s: 0.075 ***; 0.001; 0.002.
  - 5+ children: -0.012; 0.000; -0.010.
  - Female household head: -0.015; 0.002; 0.002.

### Contextual and comparative findings
- Time trend:
  - The year 2019 is associated with a higher probability of physical violence in the 12 months preceding the survey compared to 2013; this increase is uniquely significant for physical violence and not for compound dependent variables including sexual or emotional violence.
  - This contrasts with broader sub-Saharan Africa literature suggesting decreases in IPV over DHS waves and may reflect increased awareness and reporting (Nabaggala and others 2021).
- Intergenerational transmission:
  - Witnessing father beat mother is consistently associated with higher likelihood of experiencing violence.
- Attitudes:
  - Justifying violence for at least one reason is associated with higher probability of experiencing violence; positive and significant across models.
- Education:
  - Contrary to some literature that finds higher education protective, this study shows a positive link between education and IPV, suggesting that educated women challenging patriarchal norms may temporarily face increased IPV.
- Alcohol:
  - Husband’s frequent alcohol consumption is strongly associated with increased probability of physical violence.
  - Sierra Leone alcohol context: 22.3 percent of men are heavy drinkers versus 3.7 percent of women; among drinkers, over half of men are classified as heavy drinkers versus 20 percent of women.
- Decision-making:
  - Women’s exclusion from household decision-making is associated with increased likelihood of physical violence.
- Residency:
  - Rural residence associated with reduced probability of violence; may reflect lower reporting or measurement differences between urban and rural settings.

### Policy gaps and recommended actions
- Legal and institutional implementation:
  - Existing laws and policies (e.g., Sexual Offences Act (2012) and its (2019) amendment) provide a framework but suffer from weak implementation; reporting, case numbers, and convictions remain minimal.
  - Recommendation: effective implementation and enforcement to transform attitudes, build trust in response services, and treat gender-based violence as a serious crime.
- Service expansion and resourcing:
  - Survivors’ needs exceed existing center capacities; gaps in reaching remote, marginalized, and vulnerable groups (including people with disabilities).
  - Specific gaps: Falaba lacks a government One Stop Centre or Rainbo Centre; need for at least one more center in the Western region in the near term.
  - Recommendation: fully resource existing centers, expand centers across districts, integrate GBV services into more health facilities.
- Service quality and coordination:
  - Need for strengthened integration of GBV services in health, psychosocial and legal support, and effective referral pathways covering medical, psychosocial, legal, safety, shelter, and financial/social support.
  - Address low help-seeking behavior (DHS: half of those who experienced lifetime violence have never told anyone or sought help).
- Prevention and social change:
  - Systematic efforts to change attitudes: break silence, promote consent and zero tolerance, empower women and girls on rights, engage men and boys, work with traditional/religious/community leaders, and support women-led and youth-led movements.
  - Comprehensive sexuality education that is age-appropriate and culturally relevant.
- Survivor-centered response:
  - Ensure access to health, legal services, psychosocial support, shelters/safe spaces, and cash assistance; address barriers of poverty, distance, and lack of protective services.
- Financing, monitoring, and learning:
  - Sustainable domestic financing and consistent monitoring required for long-term availability and quality of services across medical, social welfare, and justice sectors.
  - Integrate services into sexual and reproductive health; implement evidence-based prevention programs via communication and education sectors.
  - Measurement priorities: prevalence of violence, societal attitudes and perceptions, monitoring quality and uptake of services; continuous evaluation to inform strategies.
  - Gender budgeting: Sierra Leone piloting gender budgeting in key Ministries; use gender budgeting as a tool to target lower rates of violence.

### Annex: Legislative highlights (selected entries)
- National Policy on Gender Mainstreaming (2000)
- National Policy on the Advancement of Women (2000)
- Domestic Violence Act (2007)
- Devolution of Estate Act (2007)
- The Child Rights Acts (2007)
- Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act (2009)
- National Referral Protocol on Gender-Based Violence (2012)
- The Sexual Offences Act (2012); Implementation Plan on the Sexual Offences Act (2015)
- National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence (2012)
- Sierra Leone National Action Plan for UN Resolutions 1325 and 1820 (2010-2014)
- Sexual Offences Act Amendment (2019), and related sentencing guidelines
- National Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy (2021)
- Customary Land Rights Act (2022)
- GEWE Act (2022)
- Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (2024)

*International Monetary Fund — Sierra Leone: DHS-based analysis of intimate partner violence and policy recommendations*

### References

### References

### Prevalence, correlates, and country studies of intimate partner violence (IPV)
- Artz, S., M. Jackson, K. Rossiter, A. Nijdam-Jones, I. Géczy, and S. Porteous. 2014. “A comprehensive review of the literature on the impact of exposure to intimate partner violence on children and youth.” International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies. Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 493-487.
- Bazargan-Hejazi, S. S. Medeiros, R. Mohammadi, J. Lin, and K. Dalal. 2013. “Patterns of intimate partner violence: a study of female victims in Malawi.” Journal of Injury & Violence Research. Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 38-50. doi:10.5249/jivr.v5i1.139.
- Coker, A. L., and D. L. Richter. 1998. “Violence against women in Sierra Leone: frequency and correlates of intimate partner violence and forced sexual intercourse.” African Journal of Reproductive Health. Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 61-72.
- Koenig, M. A., T. Lutalo, F. Zhao, F. Nalugoda, F. Wabwire-Mangen, N. Kiwanuka, J. Wagman, D. Serwadda, M. Wawer, and R. Gray. 2003. “Domestic violence in rural Uganda: evidence from a community-based study.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization. Vol. 81, pp. 53–60.
- Shaikh, M. A. 2022. “Prevalence and Correlates of Intimate Partner Violence against Women in Liberia: Findings from 2019-2020 Demographic and Health Survey.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Vol. 19, No. 6, 3519. doi:10.3390/ijerph19063519
- Shaikh, M. A. 2023. “Prevalence, correlates, and trends of intimate partner violence against women in Sierra Leone: findings from 2013 and 2019 demographic and health surveys.” Frontiers in Public Health. Vol. 11, 1227165. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1227165

### Determinants, risk factors, and behavioral drivers
- Hatcher, A. M., C. J. Colvin, N. Ndlovu, and S. L. Dworkin. 2014. “Intimate partner violence among rural South African men: alcohol use, sexual decision-making, and partner communication.” Culture Health and Sexuality. Vol. 16, No. 9, pp. 1023–1039. doi: 10.1080/13691058.2014.924558.
- Klomegah, R. Y. 2008. “Intimate partner violence (IPV) in Zambia: an examination of risk factors and gender perceptions.” Journal of Comparative Family Studies. Vol. 39, pp. 557–569. doi: 10.3138/jcfs.39.4.557.
- Vest, J. R., T. K. Catlin, J. J. Chen, and R. C. Brownson. 2002. “Multistate analysis of factors associated with intimate partner violence.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 156-164.
- Peek-Asa, C., A. Wallis, K. Harland, K. Beyer, P. Dickey, and A. Saftlas. 2011. “Rural Disparity in Domestic Violence Prevalence and Access to Resources.” Journal of Women's Health (Larchmont). Vol. 20, No. 11, pp. 1743–1749. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2011.2891. PMCID: PMC3216064, PMID: 21919777.
- Muchemwa, M., M. Phiri, and O. Aladejebi. 2022. “Information communication technologies and intimate partner violence among women in sub-Saharan Africa countries.” DHS Working Papers. 2022, No. 186.
- Nabaggala, M. S., T. Reddy, and S. Manda. 2021. “Effects of rural-urban residence and education on intimate partner violence among women in Sub-Saharan Africa: a meta-analysis of health survey data.” BMC Women's Health. Vol. 21, No. 1, 149. doi:10.1186/s12905-021-01286-5

### Measurement, reporting, and methodological issues
- Cullen, C. 2023. “Method Matters: The Underreporting of Intimate Partner Violence.” The World Bank Economic Review. Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 49–73. https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhac022.
- Schuler, S., S. Field, and A. Bernholc. 2018. “Measuring changes in women's empowerment and its relationship to intimate partner violence.” Development in Practice. Vol. 28, No. 5, pp. 661-672.
- Ellsberg, M., H. A. Jansen, L. Heise, C. H. Watts, and C. Garcia-Moreno. 2008. “Intimate partner violence and women's physical and mental health in the WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence: an observational study.” The Lancet. Vol. 371, No. 9619, pp. 1165–1172. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60522-X.

### Contraception, reproductive health, and IPV interactions
- Dalal, K., J. Andrews, and S. Dawad. 2012. “Contraception use and associations with intimate partner violence among women in Bangladesh.” Journal of Biosocial Science. Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 83-94. doi:10.1017/S0021932011000307.
- Rahman, M., A. Hoque, and S. Makinoda. 2011. “Intimate partner violence against women: Is women empowerment a reducing factor? A study from a national Bangladeshi sample.” Journal of Family Violence. Vol. 26, pp. 411-420.

### Economic costs, development implications, and regional synthesis
- Duvvury, N., A. Callan, P. Carney, and S. Raghavendra. 2013. “Intimate partner violence: economic costs and implications for growth and development.” World Bank Women’s Voice, Agency, & Participation Research Series, No. 3.
- United Nations. 2005. “The Economic Costs of Violence Against Women: An Evaluation of the Literature.” New York, New York: United Nations.
- Ouedraogo, R., and D. Stenzel. 2021. “Economic Impact of Violence against Women: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa.” IMF Working Paper No 2021/277.
- United Nations Development Programme. 2022. “Capturing the Socioeconomic and Cultural Drivers of Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Sierra Leone.” UNDP. https://www.undp.org/sierra-leone/publications/capturing-socioeconomic-and-cultural-drivers-sexual-and-gender-based-violence-sierra-leone

### Regional health and substance-use context
- World Health Organization. 2018. “Sierra Leone Alcohol consumption: Levels and Patterns.” Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/country-profiles/substances-abuse/sle.pdf?sfvrsn=f5ffcfad_3&download=true

*References list from the source PDF "1sleea2024002-print-pdf - References".*

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