{
  "title": "IMF Executive Board Completes the Third Review under the Extended Credit Facility for Liberia, and Approves US$23.64 Million Disbursement",
  "publication": "IMF News, November 24, 2021",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2021/11/24/pr21347-liberia-imf-executive-board-completes-the-third-review-ecf-approves-disbursement",
  "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2021/11/24/pr21347-liberia-imf-executive-board-completes-the-third-review-ecf-approves-disbursement",
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  "summary": "Completion of the third review under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) enables an immediate disbursement of US$23.64 million.",
  "publishDate": "2021-11-24",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Overview",
      "content": "- Completion of the third review under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) enables an immediate disbursement of US$23.64 million.\n- The four-year ECF arrangement has total access of SDR 155 million (60 percent of quota or about US$214.30 million) and was approved on December 11, 2019.\n- Completion of the third review brings total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 68 million (US$94.8 million).\n- On August 23, 2021, Liberia received SDR 247.7 million (US$345.3 million) in the context of the general SDR allocation to the IMF’s membership.\n- Program objectives: restoring macroeconomic stability to lay foundations for sustainable inclusive growth and addressing weaknesses in governance."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Program performance and macroeconomic outlook",
      "content": "- Program performance described as mixed: favorable fiscal outturn but delays in implementing the structural reform agenda.\n- Despite COVID-19 challenges, authorities have kept the program broadly on track and maintained macroeconomic stability.\n- Fiscal and inflation outcomes:\n  - Fiscal deficit slightly declined to 4.2 percent of GDP in 2020, helped by higher grants.\n  - Inflation receded to 13 percent in 2020.\n- Growth projections:\n  - Economy contracted by 3 percent in 2020.\n  - Economic activity projected to expand by 3.6 percent in 2021, restoring pre-pandemic levels.\n  - The economy \"is on track to rebound strongly next year\" and the medium-term outlook is favorable conditional on program implementation.\n- Waivers granted by the Executive Board:\n  - Waiver of nonobservance of the end-December 2020 quantitative performance criterion on net internal reserves based on corrective action.\n  - Waiver of nonobservance of the continuous performance criterion on external arrears of the central government based on its minor nature."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Policy recommendations and authorities’ commitments (as stated by Mr. Bo Li, Acting Chair and Deputy Managing Director)",
      "content": "- Use of new SDR allocation:\n  - Strengthen the reserve position.\n  - Increase spending on the vaccination program.\n  - Support high-quality development projects.\n  - Retire expensive debt.\n- Fiscal policy priorities:\n  - Contain the wage bill.\n  - Enhance domestic revenue mobilization.\n  - Improve the quality of public spending.\n  - Operationalize a Treasury Single Account.\n  - Authorities committed to refraining from monetary financing of the budget and non-concessional external borrowing.\n  - Timely publication of public procurement information and audits of the government’s Annual Financial Statements remains a priority.\n- Monetary policy and central bank reforms:\n  - Maintain accommodative monetary policy stance to improve liquidity and support recovery.\n  - Upcoming currency changeover operation requires managing operational risks and further elaboration of a time-bound implementation plan.\n  - Further efforts needed to enhance the central bank’s independence, governance, and transparency.\n- Financial sector and governance:\n  - Strengthen and develop the financial sector; continue bank restructuring and bolster supervisory toolkit.\n  - Authorities committed to addressing high levels of non-performing loans and weaknesses in the AML/CFT regime.\n  - Fight corruption; accelerate structural reforms to improve the business climate for private sector development.\n  - More rigorous implementation of transparency and governance reforms to ensure tangible results."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Selected economic indicators and key statistics (2019–26, as presented)",
      "content": "- Real sector (annual percent change)\n  - Real GDP: -2.5 (2019), -3.0 (2020), 3.2 (2021 Est. 1st & 2nd Review), 3.6 (2022 Proj.), 4.1 (2023), 4.7 (2024), 4.9 (2025), 5.7 (2026)\n  - Mining & panning: 13.2 (2019), 2.0 (2020), 1.9 (2021), 7.0 (2022), 4.2 (2023), 6.8 (2024), 7.5 (2025), 5.4 (2026)\n  - Non-mining: -4.7 (2019), -3.8 (2020), 3.5 (2021), 2.9 (2022), 5.2 (2023)\n- Nominal non-mining per capita GDP (U.S. dollars): 554 (2019), 529 (2020), 527 (2021), 584 (2022), 537 (2023), 618 (2024), 625 (2025), 655 (2026), 686, 723\n- Nominal GDP (millions of U.S. dollars): 3,080 (2019), 3,037 (2020), 3,107 (2021), 3,426 (2022), 3,247 (2023), 3,698 (2024), 3,847 (2025), 4,143 (2026), 4,464, 4,810\n- Inflation (consumer prices)\n  - Annual average: 27.0 (2019), 17.0 (2020), 9.8 (2021), 8.4 (2022), 11.5 (2023), 8.3 (2024), 5.0 (2025)\n  - End of period: 20.3 (2019), 13.1 (2020), 8.0 (2021), 9.7 (2022), 6.0 (2023), 12.3 (2024), 6.4 (2025)\n- Population (millions): 4.6 (2019), 4.8 (2020), 5.1 (2021), 5.3 (2022)\n- Central government operations (percent of GDP)\n  - Total revenue and grants: 27.4 (2019), 31.2 (2020), 29.2 (2021), 30.7 (2022), 28.8 (2023), 28.9 (2024), 28.0 (2025), 28.5 (2026), 28.2, 27.7\n  - Total revenue: 13.9 (2019), 15.8 (2020), 15.3 (2021), 17.8 (2022), 16.6 (2023), 17.2 (2024), 17.4 (2025), 17.7 (2026), 17.9\n  - Grants: 13.5 (2019), 12.9 (2020), 12.2 (2021), 11.7 (2022), 10.5 (2023), 11.1 (2024)\n  - Total expenditure: 32.2 (2019), 35.4 (2020), 33.1 (2021), 32.9 (2022), 30.0 (2023), 30.2 (2024), 29.6 (2025), 29.1 (2026)\n  - Current expenditure: 21.4 (2019), 25.1 (2020), 21.2 (2021), 22.6 (2022), 19.9 (2023), 19.5 (2024), 18.5 (2025), 18.0 (2026)\n  - Capital expenditure: 10.8 (2019), 10.3 (2020), 11.3 (2021)\n  - Overall fiscal balance, including grants: -4.8 (2019), -4.2 (2020), -2.4 (2021), -4.0 (2022), -2.1 (2023), -1.7 (2024), -1.5 (2025), -1.4 (2026)\n  - Overall fiscal balance, excluding grants: -18.3 (2019), -19.6 (2020), -16.9 (2021), -15.3 (2022), -14.5 (2023), -15.8 (2024), -12.6 (2025), -12.8 (2026), -12.0, -11.2\n- Public debt (percent of GDP)\n  - Total public debt: 48.9 (2019), 61.8 (2020), 62.0 (2021), 56.1 (2022), 63.5 (2023), 59.0 (2024), 59.4 (2025), 56.2 (2026), 53.2, 50.1\n  - Public external debt: 35.2 (2019), 40.9 (2020), 42.8 (2021), 38.3 (2022), 45.2 (2023), 38.1 (2024), 38.7 (2025), 37.4 (2026), 36.8, 36.3\n  - Public domestic debt: 13.6 (2019), 20.9 (2020), 19.2 (2021), 18.4 (2022), 20.6 (2023), 18.8 (2024), 16.4 (2025)\n- Monetary and financial indicators\n  - M2/GDP: 25.5 (2019), 22.3 (2020), 24.6 (2021), 23.6 (2022), 24.2 (2023)\n  - Credit to private sector (percent of GDP): 16.1 (2019), 16.2 (2020), 17.3 (2021)\n  - Credit to private sector (annual percent change): -11.3 (2019), 5.5 (2020), 4.0 (2021), 12.7 (2022), 9.4 (2023), 7.9 (2024), 8.1 (2025), 8.2 (2026)\n- External sector (percent of GDP)\n  - Current account balance including grants: -16.3 (2019), -22.2 (2020), -17.9 (2021), -22.6 (2022), -18.9 (2023), -19.9 (2024), -19.3 (2025), - (2026)\n  - Current account balance excluding grants: -25.0 (2019), -23.7 (2020), -36.1 (2021), -34.8 (2022), -24.1 (2023), -24.2 (2024), -24.6 (2025), -23.8 (2026), -22.5\n  - Trade balance: -12.9 (2019), -10.8 (2020), -10.2 (2021), -9.4 (2022), -7.1 (2023), -4.3 (2024)\n  - Exports: 17.5 (2019), 20.0 (2020), 14.9 (2021), 23.1 (2022), 23.3 (2023), 23.7 (2024), 23.2 (2025), 24.3 (2026), 26.3\n  - Imports: -30.3 (2019), -32.9 (2020), -33.8 (2021), -35.7 (2022), -33.2 (2023), -34.1 (2024), -32.6 (2025), -31.4 (2026), -30.6\n  - Grants (donor transfers, net): 7.3 (2019), 4.4 (2020), 4.5 (2021)\n  - Gross official reserves (millions of U.S. dollars): 292 (2019), 358 (2020), 403 (2021), 716 (2022), 429 (2023), 719 (2024), 769 (2025), 779 (2026), 811, 846\n  - Months of next year’s imports: 2.2 (2019), 2.3 (2020), 3.0 (2021), 4.3 (2022), 3.8 (2023)\n  - CBL's net int'l reserves (millions of U.S.): 27 (2019), 0 (2020), 70 (2021), 392 (2022), 75 (2023), 362 (2024), 401 (2025), 444 (2026), 504, 575\n\nPress Release No. 21/347, November 24, 2021 — IMF Communications Department.\n\n---\n\n\n References\n\n- Liberia and the IMF\n- Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) -- A Factsheet\n- Press Releases\n- PRESS CENTER\n- https://www.imf.org/en/home\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2021/11/24/pr21347-liberia-imf-executive-board-completes-the-third-review-ecf-approves-disbursement"
    }
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    "Published: November 24, 2021",
    "Completion of the third review under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) enables an immediate disbursement of US$23.64 million.",
    "The four-year ECF arrangement has total access of SDR 155 million (60 percent of quota or about US$214.30 million) and was approved on December 11, 2019.",
    "Completion of the third review brings total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 68 million (US$94.8 million).",
    "On August 23, 2021, Liberia received SDR 247.7 million (US$345.3 million) in the context of the general SDR allocation to the IMF’s membership.",
    "Program objectives: restoring macroeconomic stability to lay foundations for sustainable inclusive growth and addressing weaknesses in governance.",
    "Program performance described as mixed: favorable fiscal outturn but delays in implementing the structural reform agenda.",
    "Despite COVID-19 challenges, authorities have kept the program broadly on track and maintained macroeconomic stability.",
    "Fiscal and inflation outcomes:",
    "Growth projections:",
    "Waivers granted by the Executive Board:",
    "Use of new SDR allocation:",
    "Fiscal policy priorities:",
    "Monetary policy and central bank reforms:",
    "Financial sector and governance:",
    "Real sector (annual percent change)",
    "Nominal non-mining per capita GDP (U.S. dollars): 554 (2019), 529 (2020), 527 (2021), 584 (2022), 537 (2023), 618 (2024), 625 (2025), 655 (2026), 686, 723",
    "Nominal GDP (millions of U.S. dollars): 3,080 (2019), 3,037 (2020), 3,107 (2021), 3,426 (2022), 3,247 (2023), 3,698 (2024), 3,847 (2025), 4,143 (2026), 4,464, 4,810",
    "Inflation (consumer prices)",
    "Population (millions): 4.6 (2019), 4.8 (2020), 5.1 (2021), 5.3 (2022)",
    "Central government operations (percent of GDP)",
    "Public debt (percent of GDP)",
    "Monetary and financial indicators",
    "External sector (percent of GDP)",
    "[Liberia and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/LBR/index.htm)",
    "[Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) -- A Factsheet](https://www.imf.org/en/about/factsheets/sheets/2023/special-drawing-rights-sdr)",
    "[Press Releases](https://www.imf.org/en/news/searchnews)",
    "[PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)",
    "[https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)"
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