{"id":48086,"date":"2026-10-15T16:43:29","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T14:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=48086"},"modified":"2026-10-15T16:43:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T14:43:29","slug":"imf-releases-50-2-million-as-liberias-growth-strengthens","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/imf-releases-50-2-million-as-liberias-growth-strengthens\/","title":{"rendered":"IMF releases $50.2 million as Liberia\u2019s growth strengthens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The financing comprises $26.2 million under the Extended Credit Facility and $23.96 million through the Resilience and Sustainability Facility.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The IMF said Liberia\u2019s economy grew by 5.1% in 2025 and was projected to expand by 5.5% in 2026, supported by mining, construction and manufacturing. \u201cThe authorities have continued to implement sound policies, allowing them to make significant progress under the Extended Credit Facility and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility arrangements,\u201d IMF Acting Chair and Deputy Managing Director Bo Li said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Liberia has maintained fiscal consolidation through stronger revenue collection, helping reduce debt vulnerabilities while allowing capital expenditure to increase.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>However, Li called for unproductive spending to be reduced to create additional fiscal space for priority infrastructure without weakening fiscal discipline.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Liberia plans to introduce value-added tax in 2027, reform mining taxation and rationalise tax exemptions. \u201cA successful rollout of the VAT will generate steady revenues to finance priority investments,\u201d Li said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The government also plans to spread the use of a one-off mining concession payment across 2026 and 2027 because of constraints affecting project implementation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The IMF called for improved selection, implementation and monitoring of capital projects to strengthen public spending and economic growth.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Bank recapitalisation is progressing more slowly than planned, while non-performing loans continue to weaken balance sheets and restrict private-sector credit. \u201cAccelerating the reduction of non-performing loans would strengthen bank balance sheets and support private-sector credit growth,\u201d Li said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Issuing new banknotes is also an immediate priority to address continuing shortages.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The IMF called for publication of Liberia\u2019s governance diagnostic report and implementation of an action plan addressing corruption and institutional weaknesses.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Removing legal barriers preventing the publication of public officials\u2019 asset declarations would further strengthen accountability and transparency.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Total disbursements under the Extended Credit Facility have reached approximately $131.67 million. The Resilience and Sustainability Facility provides Liberia with access to about $265 million for climate-related reforms.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Li said continued technical assistance and cooperation with development partners would be critical to implementing climate measures and reducing balance-of-payments risks.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;IMF\/ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":38184,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-48086","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved an immediate $50.2 million disbursement to Liberia after completing reviews of programmes supporting economic stability and climate resilience.","published_date":"","news_description":"The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved an immediate $50.2 million disbursement to Liberia after completing reviews of programmes supporting economic stability and climate resilience.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48088,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48086\/revisions\/48088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=48086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}