President George Manneh Weah has assured his Administration’s political will to endorse recommendations from the ongoing National Economic Dialogue taking place in Monrovia.
He said recommendations from the Dialogue would be taken under serious advisement, and, where and when necessary, would be backed with the political will required for successful implementation.
In his keynote address at the opening of the 3-day forum being attended by national and international stakeholders, President Weah said his Administration decided holding the National Economic Dialogue (NED) as an “important initiative aimed at stimulating a broad-based conversation among stakeholders within the Liberian economy.
“You may recall that, in my first Annual Message which was given one week after I assumed the Presidency in January last year, I informed the Nation that the state of the economy that my administration had inherited left a lot to be desired,” the President said.
He indicated that there were structural challenges which would require major adjustments if they were not to continue to have a negative impact on macro-economic stability.
“There were also issues of liquidity, and a persistent decline in the value of our currency, compounded by reducing inflows of foreign exchange and investments, all of which placed upward pressure on inflation.”
The Liberian leader said in the eighteen months since his incumbency, “we have exercised our best efforts as a Government to address these issues. Yet, many of them persist, and continue to present challenges.”
He said the NED therefore grew out of his government’s determination to address the serious downward trend of the economy, with the hope to find the best possible solutions that ameliorate the problems.
The NED is being held under the theme: “National Economic Revival and Growth: Critical Issues, Challenges, And A Way Forward.”
Weah said while he is not an economist, and will never pretend to be one, he has the mantle of leadership that has been placed upon him, giving him direct responsibility to find solutions to repair the broken Liberian economy, and make life better for the people.
The President further said he has been urging all Liberians to work with his Administration to devise and support new measures which could successfully address the structural defects and imbalances in our economy.
He said: “And I then called for discussions and dialogue on the way forward for economic revival in Liberia. This is the genesis of this National Economic Dialogue Conference.”
Many Liberians have in recent time suggested an economic dialogue to discuss how the country’s economic nightmare can be solved.
Liberia current economic problem has forced the Weah administration not to pay salaries of civil servants and other government employees on time for the first time since the end of the country civil conflict in 2003.
