The Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa, has assured that loss of revenue as a result of the outbreak of the Coronavirus would not prevent the Government of Sierra Leone from implementing the 2020 budget and the National Medium Term Development Plan.
He made this remark on Wednesday June 10, 2020, during the Good Morning Sierra Leone Programme on Radio Democracy.
“It is expected that when there is a drop in revenue or slowdown in economic activities budget implementation will be affected. This is the essence of proactive leadership, we anticipated that and moved fast to mobilize external resources to back us up so that the revenue loss will not affect the implementation of the 2020 Budget,” he said.
Minister Saffa said that under his leadership and the support of the Economic Management Team, the Government’s programme has been credible so far. He added that they have mobilized additional resources from partners, and revealed that $143 million has been raised from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which is highly concessional, US$25 from the Islamic Development Bank, US$100 million from the World Bank and US$10M from the European Union.
The Finance Minister further promised that Government would implement different projects on road, electricity, water, agriculture and youth empowerment as was pledged in the 2020 Budget, and also informed that those projects would not only bring service delivery to the people of Sierra Leone, but also create job opportunities that would put food on their tables and address their ‘bread and butter’ issues.
After cataloging numerous economic downbeats that the new direction administration inherited in 2018, the Minister Saffa assured Sierra Leoneans that the country is on the path to recovery despite the current government’s inheriting a country in austerity.
“We inherited a situation where growth rate was staggering around 3.5% in 2017, and in 2019 the overall economic growth rate moved to 5.1%. In 2017 we lacked donor confidence and credibility, and we were out of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme completely, and when that happens by extension you will have problem with other partners like World Bank, Department for International Development (DfID). But we were able to restore that relationship in eight months,” he contended. Saffa also said that the Government of Sierra Leone under the Leadership of President Bio in 2018, met a situation where inflation was at 18%, but by the end of 2019 inflation was at 14%.
The Minister admitted that COVID-19 has negatively impacted the economy, but noted that the government is on track to ensure that it cushions its impact through the Quick Action Economic Response Programme (QAERP) which has the overall goal of maintaining macro-economic financial stability and mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 on businesses and households.
By Sallieu Kanu
12/6/2020. ISSUE NO.: 7844