Finance Minister Ngafuan: Most of Liberia's $1 Billion Revenue Milestone Already Spent
Anthony G. Myers, Undersecretary of Finance and Development Planning of Liberia, at a cooperation signing with Korean officials, November 2024 (file photo; illustrative of Liberia's Finance Ministry, not the revenue announcement). Photo: Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Korea Open Government License Type 1, via Wikimedia Commons.
Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan says only around $50 million or less remains from the $1 billion in domestic revenue Liberia has collected this year, explaining the money has been going out the door since January to fund government operations and development programs.
Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan has told the public that only about $50 million or less remains in government accounts from the $1 billion in domestic revenue Liberia has collected so far this year, clarifying that the widely celebrated $1 billion figure represents cumulative collections rather than a current bank balance. He made the comments on September 17 during an appearance on OK FM's Morning Rush program.
"The US$1 billion, we started spending the US$1 billion since January," Ngafuan said, pushing back on any impression that the milestone meant the government was sitting on a large reserve. Revenue, he explained, "doesn't sit in the bank account" once collected; it is drawn down continuously to cover government operations and development programs as the year progresses.
The minister did not detail specific line items the money went toward, describing the spending only in general terms as funding "government operations and development programs." That lack of a detailed breakdown has left the public without a clear accounting of exactly where the bulk of the $1 billion has gone, even as officials continue to tout the revenue figure itself as a marker of fiscal progress.
The disclosure has intensified a debate already underway over whether Liberia's rising domestic revenue is translating into tangible benefits for citizens. The Liberia Nurses Association has been pressing for monthly salaries of $500, and the opposition Coalition for Democratic Change has called for greater transparency on how the government is distributing the benefits of the increased collections.
Ngafuan's comments effectively concede that the $1 billion threshold, while a genuine collections achievement, tells the public little about what has actually been delivered with the money. Until the ministry publishes an itemized accounting of the spending, the gap between the headline number and public perception of tangible improvement in healthcare, education, infrastructure, and public-sector wages is likely to keep driving the same demands for transparency that Ngafuan's own remarks have now amplified.