<\/p>\n
The seventh edition of the World Bank Group\u2019s Liberia Economic Update found that stronger mining activity and continued services expansion supported economic performance.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mining grew by 17%, while services expanded by 4.6%, supported by trade, electricity and transport. Agricultural growth slowed to 2.6%. \u201cLiberia\u2019s recent economic gains are encouraging. The key challenge now is translating growth into opportunities and improvements in people\u2019s lives,\u201d World Bank Group Country Manager for Liberia Georgia Wallen said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The overall fiscal deficit narrowed from 2.5% of gross domestic product in 2024 to 2.1% in 2025.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Public debt declined from 56.4% to 55.1% of gross domestic product, while tight monetary policy, a broadly stable exchange rate and moderate global food and fuel prices helped contain inflation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, international reserves covered only about 1.6 months of imports at the end of 2025, leaving Liberia vulnerable to external shocks. \u201cAchieving Liberia\u2019s national development goals means sustaining macroeconomic stability while addressing the structural barriers that prevent businesses from expanding, workers from accessing productive opportunities and communities from fully participating in the country\u2019s growth,\u201d Wallen said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Report called for stronger domestic revenue mobilisation, prudent fiscal management and the rebuilding of external financial buffers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Liberia should also improve the business environment to attract productive investment, diversify the economy and create more employment.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
State-owned enterprises remain another source of concern because poor financial performance could create risks for public finances and weaken essential services. \u201cState-owned enterprises play an important role in delivering essential services, but strong oversight is critical to ensuring that they operate transparently and sustainably,\u201d World Bank Group Senior Public Sector Specialist Bonnie Ann Sirois said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Report recommended stronger financial reporting, transparency, accountability and monitoring of fiscal risks associated with state-owned enterprises.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
World Bank Group Country Economist Gweh Gaye Tarwo said Liberia needed to build on the recent macroeconomic gains. \u201cStronger fiscal management, a more enabling environment for the private sector and improved governance of state-owned enterprises can help put the economy on a more sustainable and job-rich growth path,\u201d Tarwo said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–WorldBank\/ChannelAfrica–<\/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-49870","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Liberia\u2019s economy grew by 5.1% in 2025, but structural barriers continue limiting employment, poverty reduction and improvements in living standards, the World Bank says.","published_date":"","news_description":"Liberia\u2019s economy grew by 5.1% in 2025, but structural barriers continue limiting employment, poverty reduction and improvements in living standards, the World Bank says.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49870","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\/49870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49872,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49870\/revisions\/49872"}],"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=49870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=49870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}