Festus Poquie
Liberia’s government plans to borrow as much as $281.7 million to meet its funding gap this year, according to the ministry of finance and development planning.
To meet the overall financing requirement the government intends to borrow $112.7 million from domestic market, primarily from commercial banks, it said in an annual borrowing plan and auction calendar posted on its website.
The remaining $169 million expects to be raised from bilateral and multilateral creditors given that the local debt market does not have sufficient liquidity to finance large scale projects, it said.
“The auction calendar suggests that Government will have the highest financing requirement in the second quarter of 2026, informed by anticipated spending on procurement of goods and services for infrastructure and basic services for the pending dry season.”
Liberia’s public debt stock reached $2.82 billion at end of December, of which domestic debt was $1.19 billion and external debt $1.62 billion, ministry said.
In late December lawmakers approved $1.2 billion for the 2026 spending period. It’s not clear why the government is seeking additional financing.
