By Festus Poquie
Liberia’s government proposed a US$45 million supplementary budget to the National Legislature on Monday that prioritizes health, education and infrastructure but conspicuously leaves out emergency fuel and food subsidies recommended by the United Nations and other international development agencies to blunt spillovers from the US Israel Iran war.
Acting Finance Minister Anthony Myers presented the FY2026 draft to Speaker Richard Koon, saying the package is funded by US$40 million in delayed World Bank budget support for FY2025 and US$5 million from domestic revenue over performance.
The plan boosts social spending, directing roughly 40% — about US$19.3 million — to health, education and social development, and allocates US$7.2 million to infrastructure and basic services.
Myers outlined specific line items: US$7.3 million for education (teacher enrolment, expanded school feeding, and settling obligations to WAEC), US$10.9 million for health (including drug response and land acquisition for a National Children’s Hospital) and US$1.05 million for social development services.
The budget also sets aside US$5.1 million to “strengthen security and the rule of law” amid growing regional volatility.
Absent from the submission, however, are explicit provisions for fuel or food subsidies — measures the UN, other multilateral agencies and some African governments have publicly advised as a buffer against the economic fallout of the escalating Middle East conflict.
Those organizations have urged fragile economies to temper fuel and food price shocks that can cascade into inflation, social unrest and deeper poverty.
Liberia’s strategy appears to favor targeted social spending and long-term human capital investments over broad consumption subsidies.
Acting Minister Myers framed the package as “a deliberate policy shift” toward strengthening social protection systems and inclusive growth.
Speaker Koon praised the priorities, singling out funding for a national children’s hospital and university buses.
Analysts say the omission reflects constrained fiscal space and the government’s focus on measurable development outcomes rather than costly, recurring subsidies.
“With limited external buffers and domestic resources, subsidies could strain the budget and undercut long run service delivery investments,” one government economist told the Oracle News Daily on condition not to be named because he’s not authorized to speak.
The supplementary budget would raise the FY2026 national budget to about US$1.295 billion, a 3.6% increase from the current plan.
Still, the choice is risky: global energy and food shocks can transmit rapidly to import dependent economies like Liberia’s, and the lack of immediate subsidy measures could expose vulnerable populations to higher prices in the near term.
The government has reserved US$18.5 million for “other priority areas” and a modest security top-up but has not specified contingency mechanisms tied to international conflict dynamics.
