## "Liberia: Overcoming Challenges—Past, Present, and Future," Speech by Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund

_IMF News, September 11, 2015_

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Christine Lagarde Managing Director
- Published: September 11, 2015

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### Context and opening
- Speech by Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, Monrovia, Liberia, September 11, 2015. As prepared for delivery.
- Celebrates Liberia’s history and resilience: first African country to declare independence in 1847; first African country to elect a female president in 2005; President Ellen Sirleaf is one of only 4 female Nobel Prize winners in Africa.
- Central framing: Liberia conquered Ebola village by village and now must focus on sustainable recovery and development.

### 1. Lessons from the Ebola response
Findings and observations:
- The Ebola epidemic threatened the fabric of Liberian society, causing loss of loved ones, leaders, teachers, caregivers and friends and causing the economy to grind to a halt.
- Liberia established a “Coordinating Body” including all stakeholders—leaders of the three Branches of Government, the international community, civil society, traditional and religious leaders—to coordinate donor response and community action.
- Legislature granted special spending authority to establish the Ebola Trust Fund to restore basic health services and provided more resources when the fight intensified.
- Liberians provided assistance to neighboring countries by sharing best practices.
IMF contributions (exact figures and instruments):
- The IMF provided “cash in the bank” support beginning last September to finance an expanded government budget deficit, and stepped up again in February.
- The IMF provided almost $100 million in budget support and over $30 million in debt relief to Liberia under the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust.
- In total, the IMF provided a total of $404 million to Liberia and its neighbors Guinea and Sierra Leone, through that Trust and regular lending facilities.
Policy lessons and priorities:
- The international response should be faster and more effective next time; need more knowledge of how such diseases emerge, spread, and can be prevented.
- Rebuilding the health system, addressing vulnerable households further impoverished by the outbreak, and supporting recovery amid a deteriorating external environment are urgent priorities.
- The Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust can be used for future pandemics, earthquakes and other natural disasters.

### 2. Restoring Liberia’s growth prospects
Baseline and challenges:
- Pre-crisis growth reached an impressive 8 percent growth rate.
- Global slowdown (advanced economies, China, and emerging markets) is reducing commodity production and prices, lowering export receipts, government revenue, and investment.
Key constraints and statistics:
- Only 2 percent of the population has access to the electricity grid.
- A mere 6.2 percent of roads are paved.
- Liberia’s trade with West African neighbors: 7 percent of total trade compared with 10 percent for the ECOWAS group.
- Youth comprise 65 percent of the population.
- Youth unemployment is as high as 85 percent.
- There are 50,000 labor market entrants each year.
Priority areas for policy action:
- Scale up investment to address infrastructure gaps:
  - Strengthen domestic resource mobilization; Liberia Revenue Authority performance has been “strong and steady.”
  - Improve efficiency of investment execution through better project planning and enhanced governance and accountability.
  - Support recommencement of projects such as the hydro-power rehabilitation at Mount Coffee.
- Diversify the economy to support inclusive growth:
  - Invest in agriculture to reduce food imports, strengthen exports, and increase incomes for the two-thirds of the population employed in agriculture.
  - Improve trade integration and reap gains from Liberia’s pending entry into the WTO.
  - Create a business climate that encourages innovation and investment in new or non-traditional sectors.
- Invest in human development:
  - Rebuild the health system, acknowledging the loss of medical personnel.
  - Scale up education, vocational and technical training to develop labor-intensive sectors and transition youth out of the informal sector.
  - Close the gender gap: women already represent more than 20 percent of cabinet ministers and a third of the judiciary, but explicit measures (for example, quotas) and policies to improve women’s access to health services and higher education are recommended.

### 3. Global challenges and IMF commitments
Global resource mobilization:
- Development resources come from domestic finance mobilization, Official Development Assistance, development lending, and the private sector.
- The private sector remains the largest untapped reserve for development investment; improving the business climate and removing regulatory hurdles is essential.
IMF policy adjustments and support (exact commitments):
- The IMF will raise access levels for concessional facilities by 50 percent.
- The IMF will set the interest rate on fast disbursing support under the Rapid Credit Facility at zero percent for the long term.
- The IMF will strengthen technical assistance and capacity building services in areas such as tax administration and scaling up infrastructure investment.

### Conclusion and recommendations
- Liberia has demonstrated resilience and unity—“In union, strong success is sure”—and can translate that solidarity into economic revival and progress toward middle-income status by 2030.
- Practical recommendations emphasized throughout the speech:
  - Maintain vigilance against new outbreaks while prioritizing health-system reconstruction.
  - Scale up and make more efficient public investment in infrastructure.
  - Diversify the economy with emphasis on agriculture, trade, and non-traditional sectors to absorb youth labor.
  - Invest in human capital, with particular focus on youth and women to close persistent gaps.
  - Leverage international support and IMF concessional financing and technical assistance to accelerate recovery.

*Source: "Liberia: Overcoming Challenges—Past, Present, and Future," Speech by Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, September 11, 2015.*

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## References

- [Liberia and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/LBR/index.htm)
- [Speeches](https://www.imf.org/en/news/searchnews)
- [Christine Lagarde](https://www.imf.org/external/np/omd/bios/cl.htm)
- [PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)
- [https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp091115_