The Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, has underscored the need for the country to develop its own version of the “Doing Business Survey”.
He said, the survey should not be because the IMF and World Bank ask us to do it, but it should be propelled by the necessity of doing it as a country.
He added that a Liberian Government- Business Dialogue will provide the platform for engagement with heads of State Owned Enterprises from which specific goals can be earmarked with the hope of achieving in a specific period of time.
The Fiscal Boss then committed to a regular quarterly meeting with the Liberian Business Authority and the Liberian Chamber of Commerce.
The Minister said he considers the meeting as a “top policy engagement” with the aim of listening to the various ideas on how to improve the country’s business climate.
He added that he was glad that after the submission of the Draft 2025 National Budget he had gotten some briefing space to engage with lots of partners and leaders of the private sector, which he said is very important to him.
He suggested that for the government to improve the business environment, “we (the government need to take some actions, but we need to plan the actions that we take.” He said his intention is to engage with the private sector actors, work with them and act.
Minister Ngafuan further disclosed that there are several policies being developed by the government but the biggest among them is the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development which is the successor to the Pro-Poor Agenda for Development.
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He said the government has considerably engaged partners and other stakeholders in the formulation of the country’s five years national development plan.
Additionally, Minister Ngafuan revealed that in the formulation of the FY2025, the government took significant actions in addressing the constraints to growth which he believes will unlock the country’s business potentials.
Expounding on the constraints, he said, for example, in certain regions due to inaccessibility (owing to deplorable roads) there is excess supply of certain goods that far surpasses demand.
Liberia’s Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan spoke as Guest, Thursday, November 21, at the Liberia Chambers of Conference Business Luncheon.
The Luncheon was attended by several partners including US Ambassador Mark Toner, EU Head of Delegation Ambassador Nona Deprez, and several Liberian private sector leaders.
