Monrovia, Liberia- Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, commended the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for its pivotal partnership in Liberia’s ongoing development.
He made the disclosure when he received Mr. Jim Wright, Mission Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, on Tuesday, 24th November 2024.
Hon. Ngafuan acknowledged USAID’s extensive contributions that have significantly boosted domestic resource mobilization, enhanced capacity building, and improved the technical performance of Liberia’s overall financial system.
Minister Ngafuan stressed the essential role USAID has played through various efforts to strengthen governance, improve public financial management, and mobilize domestic resources essential for sustainable national development.
“USAID has been a critical partner to Liberia’s growth and development, and not only the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. The Ministry of Finance and the entire economic sector, including the LRA. You have been doing a tremendous job in terms of and given the resource mobilization strategy, helping the government revenue side, building capacity, and technical well-being; and some of the things that you do are transformative” Minister Ngafuan said.
Regarding the Farah initiative, Hon. Ngafuan revealed that the government of Liberia is making a frantic effort to ensure that the Farah program is brought back to fruition.
Hon. Ngafuan said: “We have been encouraging that to come on the table. We have been pushing USAID for “on budget” after the Paris agreement, the US aid modality was not aligning with the global, but Farah came as a bridge to say ok, you got to spend on the indicators, and when it is confirmed you spend your own money, we will come in and reimburse.”
“I come and inherited a lot of intermitted challenges, sometimes I hope it is just a bad dream, but instead it is a reality, and we are starting again, and it is good you planning your agenda at a particular time when we think can be more flexible and can easily align with our National Development Plan, which we are crafting”, Minister Ngafuan noted.
The Liberian Minister of Finance specifically praised USAID for its innovative efforts and support that have streamlined the tax collection process and improved fiscal transparency.
On the issue of the health sector, he assured partners and USAID that he would work with the health ministry to tighten processes to manage donor funding in a more transparent, justifiable, and accountable way.
Moreover, Minister Ngafuan recognized Liberia’s evolving challenges and stressed the need for continued collaboration with USAID, especially in the areas of capacity building for staff at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
He expressed hope that USAID would expand its support, especially in improving the skills of the Ministry’s financial professionals, which he believes is critical to the continued development of economic policies that will drive the country’s growth.
“There is a need for huge capacity at the Ministry of Finance, in fact, we are short of critical capacity at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. I want to build such capacity here, because the more we are efficient, things will be efficient across all government institutions”, he pointed out.
Also, he called on the USAID to provide whatever support they can to strengthen the government’s financial system and institutions.
Speaking earlier, USAID Mission Director Jim Wright, said his institution considers the Ministry of Finance as a counterpart. According to him, the institution and the MFDP have several collaborations in terms of agreements ranging from the Development Objective Agreements.
Director Wright said: “Our program in Liberia is a partnership with the MFDP, in terms of the development objectives, and we are doing what we can to support the MFDP.”
Director Wright revealed that paperwork related to grant agreements, procedures aspect, and keeping the MFDP informed of new activities and contracts, including having consultations were part of USAID work in Liberia.
He pointed out that the USAID work is also about meeting its own requirements by reporting to the MFDP periodically as well.
The USAID Mission Director said: “Like in the past, we have been doing portfolio reviews to come to words in terms of getting feedback that should be part of the international reporting process; rather than asking what the USAID is doing to support overall national efforts in countries.”
He expressed the need for enhanced communication exchange between USAID and the Ministry of Finance and Development and revealed that USAID will provide in a subsequent time the assistance the US Government is providing to Liberia.
Moreover, he assured the minister of finance of USAID’s support for the planned portfolio review schedule for early next year.
