## Sierra Leone: Selected Issues

_IMF Staff Country Reports, April 17, 2020_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Sierra Leone: Selected Issues](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/cr/issues/2020/04/17/sierra-leone-selected-issues-49346)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/en/publications/cr/issues/2020/04/17/sierra-leone-selected-issues-49346/index.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/en/publications/cr/issues/2020/04/17/sierra-leone-selected-issues-49346/index.json)
- [Bundle manifest](/en/publications/cr/issues/2020/04/17/sierra-leone-selected-issues-49346/bundle-manifest.json)

## Bibliographic details
- Published: April 17, 2020
- Series: IMF Staff Country Reports
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513541310.002

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### Summary findings on education and macroeconomic impact
- Boosting education and its quality for all children yields substantial macroeconomic gains.
- The results indicate the macroeconomic benefits of education could be substantial, in the order of up to 40 percent of gross domestic product in the long run.
- Several factors currently within and beyond the education sector constrain efforts that could effectively reap the economic benefits from education.

### Policy priorities and recommendations
- Equalizing access to education emerges as a critical goal for shared prosperity across the population.
- Attaining free secondary education for all is identified as a critical long-run objective.
- With limited fiscal space and vast challenges in the sector, evidence-based prioritizing, sequencing and targeting of policies is critical.
- Careful monitoring of education spending and its impacts will help reassess programs and priorities going forward.
- Enhancing the governance of the sector to ensure that spending is well-aligned with needs in the various levels is important.
- Tackling the education challenge will require coordinated work to overcome hurdles in several sectors.

### Implementation considerations and constraints
- Investments in the sector will take time to yield results, creating a need for sustained, multi-pronged policy interventions.
- Several factors both within and beyond the education sector constrain effective implementation of policies that would capture the economic benefits from education.

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## Content in this bundle

- **Sierra Leone: Selected Issues; IMF Country Report No. 20/117; March 24, 2020**
  - [Sierra Leone: Selected Issues; IMF Country Report No. 20/117; March 24, 2020 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/cr/2020/english/1sleea2020002.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"}
  - [Sierra Leone: Selected Issues; IMF Country Report No. 20/117; March 24, 2020 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/cr/2020/english/1sleea2020002.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"}

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/cr/issues/2020/04/17/sierra-leone-selected-issues-49346_