With less than a week to Christmas celebration, Liberia seems to be running out of cash again as customers wait in long queues for several hours.
“Since yesterday I filled slip to collect cash no money. I returned this morning the same thing. I don’t how this Christmas will be for my family,” said one customer who had gone to the International Bank Liberia.
In 2019, Liberia faced similar cash crisis that led to many without cash for several days.
Liberia is a cash based economy where many depend on physical cash for business transaction.
Liberia Public Radio correspondent in Monrovia says the government of ex-soccer player George Weah has vowed to make Liberia a cashless economy but there has been no effort so far.
Racked by controversies and corruption, one economist told LPR that the Weah led government might find it difficult to rescue the dying economic crisis before his tenure expires in 3 years’ time.
Already prices of local commodities have more than doubled in addition to cash crisis.
A number of financial experts are blaming business people for allegedly withholding the Liberian banknotes and keeping money at home, which is affecting the economy.
Liberia’s Central Bank Governor Aloysius Tarlue in November told the media that the Liberian dollar liquidity problem is due to the effect of Covid-19 on the economy, but said it has begun working with various stakeholders, as well as the International Monetary Fund, the legislature and others, to find a lasting solution.
