By Amin Modad
The government generated $1B—So What? I understand why many ordinary Liberians remain skeptical and ask: “How does this benefit me?” That skepticism is rooted not only in political narratives being propagated, but in years of unmet promises and governments that collected revenue without transforming or improving the lives of the people. We must therefore move beyond both blind celebration and automatic cynicism. Give the administration the opportunity to prove itself, but strengthen public accountability at every step.
Yes, $1B is a significant step, not so much of the amount, but the fact that the government aspired, committed, planned, and achieved. I believe that with the right policies, reforms, strategy, and reinvestment we should easily be able to achieve twice this amount. The real value of increased domestic revenue is the fiscal space it creates. If strategically invested, it can mean better healthcare and education, improved infrastructure, stronger youth development, better public services and more productive economic opportunities. However, we must be discipline and understand that though Liberia has too many needs, we cannot do everything at once.
Our first priority should be to establish the policies, reforms and institutions that make economic growth and revenue generation sustainable. One of the challenges of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s first term, in my view, was the enormous scale of the problems inherited after the war and the understandable pressure to address them simultaneously. Limited resources and institutional capacity were stretched across competing priorities.
This is particularly important because Liberia’s greatest asset is its young and vibrant population. With roughly 68% of our population being young, youth development cannot remain an afterthought. We must deliberately invest in building a healthy, educated, skilled, and capable generation of young Liberians. This means prioritizing healthcare, quality education, vocational and technical training, digital skills, entrepreneurship, apprenticeships, and access to opportunities that prepare our young people to become productive workers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and business owners.
Equally important is empowering Liberian entrepreneurs to take greater ownership of our economy. Government cannot create enough sustainable jobs by itself. We need a private sector in which Liberians can start, finance, grow and scale businesses. The recent discussion around non-performing loans is relevant in this context; it rightly placed access to finance and support to MSMEs at the center of financial-sector reform.
For Liberian businesses to thrive, they require access to capital—not simply short-term loans, but patient, affordable capital that affords them sufficient time to establish themselves, invest, produce and become profitable. Many businesses struggle under high interest rates, short repayment periods, collateral requirements and other restrictive lending conditions. Where viable businesses have been pushed into distress because of expensive financing or difficult economic conditions, there should be mechanisms for responsible refinancing and restructuring of bad loans, rather than simply allowing potentially productive Liberian enterprises to collapse.
Our economic strategy should therefore be clear: protect basic social services; develop our youth; produce more of what we currently import; add value to our natural resources and comparative advantages; increase exports; and build a Liberian-owned private sector. This is how increased revenue can eventually translate into increased household incomes, jobs and economic security.
We should also recognize that the world is changing around us. Foreign aid is declining significantly, geopolitical priorities are shifting, multilateralism is suffocating due geopolitical fragmentation, and countries like ours can no longer build their future on the assumption that external assistance will always be available. Liberia must increasingly finance its own development and build an economy in which Liberians have a vested stake in our collective survival and prosperity.
So, let us put aside the instinct to dismiss every positive development because of politics. Celebrate progress where progress is made and give the government room to work. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not saying give the administration a free pass! Pres. Boakai has continued to stress accountability. The civic society must ask the difficult questions and demand transparency; track where the money goes and ensure that there are measurable results. Hold leaders accountable.
Skepticism is healthy when it demands accountability. It becomes destructive when it refuses to recognize progress simply because of who is in power.
