The out-going leader of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is an acclaimed financial expert, having served for appreciable time at the International Monetary Fund, IMF. And she has been acclaimed generally for tending the economic affairs of her country well. So, where is the trending talk that the incoming president, George Weah, will inherit a broke government coming from?
Can that be right? Well, Senator Weah is looking forward to the 22nd of this month when he will be inheriting several daunting challenges that include fixing a sagging economy. Creating jobs and learning opportunities for the country’s nearly 85 percent unemployed youth is another challenge he would encounter.
For sure, Mr. Weah secured 61.5 percent victory in the presidential election in which the youths obviously placed huge expectations on his shoulders and satisfying their expectation is a massive task.
Expectations that were built up over a decade overshadowed by the lack of opportunities for middle and lower classes have now influenced an overwhelming demand for improvement in the livelihood of the people. There is no doubt that the soccer legend is mounting the political stage of one of the world’s poorest countries at a time when the economy is in the doldrums.
Right after signing the 2017/18 National Budget, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf called a special meeting with members of the Legislature, requesting them to revisit the budget due to government’s inability to raise the fund required to implement the $564 million budget.
That was an emphatic sign of an out-of-control economic woos but the Sirleaf government kept mute although the writing on the wall was becoming clearer. The President and her advisers argued that the decline in global prices of commodity was the source of Liberian liquidity crisis.
It prompted the decline in prices of major exports such as rubber and iron ore on the world market, which had already been compounded by the impact of the Ebola outbreak in the country.
