U.S. forecasts Liberia’s investment prospects

The United States’ investment forecast on Liberia says the West African nation holds huge potential for natural resource investments. 

Monrovia, Liberia, September 4, 2024 – A 2024 investment forecast by the United States for Liberia says the country offers opportunities for investment, especially in natural resources such as mining, agriculture, fishing, and forestry, but also in more specialized sectors such as energy, telecommunications, tourism, and financial services.

An executive summary of the forecast notes that the economy of Liberia, which was severely damaged by more than a decade of civil wars that ended in 2003, has been slowly recovering, but the post-war country is yet to attain pre-war levels of development.

“Liberia’s largely commodities-based economy relies heavily on imports even for most basic needs like fuel, clothing, and rice – Liberia’s most important staple food. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many sectors of the economy, which contracted in 2019 and 2020”, the statement reads.

It says however, that the World Bank and IMF expect per capita GDP to return to pre-COVID-19 levels, and that growth will be driven mainly by the mining sector, although structural reforms are also expected to increase activity in agriculture and construction.

President Joseph Nyuma Boakai is leaving no stone unturned in seizing every opportunity at global forums to explain Liberia’s potential for direct foreign investment. 

Notwithstanding, the forecast notes that low human development indicators, expensive and unreliable electricity, poor roads, a lack of reliable internet access (especially outside urban areas), and pervasive government corruption constrain investment and development.

“Most of Liberia lacks reliable power, although efforts to expand access to the electricity grid are ongoing through an extension from the Mount Coffee Hydropower Plant, connection to the West Africa Power Pool, and other internationally supported energy projects.”

It also observes that public perception of corruption in the public sector is high, as indicated by Liberia’s poor showing in Transparency International’s 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index, where Liberia ranked 136 out of 180 countries.

The statement says low public trust in the banking sector and seasonal currency shortages result in most cash being held outside of banks, but to remedy this, the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) in 2021 initiated a plan to print and circulate additional currency.

The CBL printed and minted 48 billion Liberian dollars through 2024, and along with commercial banks successfully pushed the adoption of mobile money, which Liberians access through their mobile phones to make everyday purchases and pay bills.

 However, it points that the government has yet to activate the “national switch,” as banking instruments like ATMs and mobile money accounts remain unintegrated and are not interoperable.