A heated debate has erupted between Liberia’s ruling Unity Party Alliance (UPA) government and the opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) regarding the country’s debt burden.
In a Facebook post, Samuel Tweah, the former Finance Minister under the CDC government, claimed that the total domestic and external debt stood at US$2.1 billion at the end of the CDC regime in 2023. Tweah accused the current UPA government of spreading “propaganda” that the CDC had accumulated US$2.6 billion in debt, calling it a “LIE.”
Tweah’s breakdown of the US$2.1 billion debt stock shows that US$914 million was domestic debt, with the remaining being international debt from multilateral institutions.
He further claimed that the UPA government had left US$266 million in domestic debt at the end of 2017, and that the CDC government had only accumulated US$348 million in domestic debt during its tenure.
Tweah’s was responding to the current Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) team claims that the debt burden inherited by the Boakai administration is significantly higher.
The MFDP asserts that the total debt stands at US$2.6 billion, with US$1.5 billion accumulated under the CDC government in just six years, compared to US$881.8 million during the entire twelve-year tenure of the first UPA administration.
Also, the MFDP highlighted the challenge of dealing with debt payments that were scheduled in previous years but not paid by the CDC government. The ministry, however, assured the public and Liberia’s development partners that the government remains committed to strengthening its relationships with the World Bank and other international partners to address the country’s debt challenges.
The Ministry noted that the current administration has already paid US$44.3 million, including US$23 million outstanding from 2023 that was not paid by the previous administration and US$21 million out of the scheduled external debt repayments due in 2024.
The ministry also attributed the reduction in external transfer dates at the Central Bank of Liberia to transfer risks resulting from poor management of external payments by the previous administrations, which has led to challenges in meeting some debt repayment schedules.
