MONROVIA — Liberia’s Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, has assured the public that the national budget remains on track despite significant financial disruptions caused by recent cuts in international aid, particularly from the United States.
Speaking Monday on Prime FM’s “Night Time Heat,” Ngafuan said the $880 million fiscal year 2025 budget is performing within expectations, even with fluctuations in quarterly expenditures.
“We are largely on track,” he said. “The budget is a 12-month budget. What you have there can be seasonality in terms of first-quarter spending, and you more than double up in the second quarter. Overall, we are on course.”
Ngafuan addressed growing concerns over the impact of the abrupt reduction in support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, which affected key sectors including health, education and agriculture.
“You know, we had this abrupt cut of USAID aid. It started with information that all the projects were suspended for 90 days. As it went on, some of the projects started getting canceled,” he said. “The American ambassador and USAID director would come and say five projects have been canceled, then 15. Out of 29 projects, 27 have been canceled—affecting about $360 million in support.”
Despite the setbacks, Ngafuan said the government has taken steps to mitigate the effects, including allocating $1 million to sustain the national school feeding program.
“We must make sure we keep drugs in the hospitals. We must continue to support education,” he said. “The government has stepped up, and some other partners are stepping up where USAID is stepping down.”
The finance minister noted that while many of the canceled projects were donor-funded, the brunt of the impact has been felt by civil society and service providers, not government operations.
“It is not the government that is hurting directly, but civil society organizations. Many have contacted us,” he said, urging both government and partners to “move faster” in delivery and coordination.
Ngafuan also addressed Liberia’s broader fiscal landscape, pointing to the high demand for funding across ministries and agencies.
“This budget is an upgrade—$880 million compared to $837 million last year. Yet all the requests that came from ministries and agencies amounted to $2 billion,” he said. “That shows the scale of demand and the reality of scarcity we are managing.”
He urged the public and policymakers to focus less on political credit and more on the national good.
“Let’s turn the focus to the Liberian People Project,” Ngafuan said. “These projects are not for any politician or individual. Yes, Ngafuan signed a financing agreement with Kuwait, but it’s not my project—it’s the Liberian people’s.”
On the issue of debt, he said Liberia’s external debt currently stands at approximately $1.55 billion, out of a total debt stock of $2.8 billion. He emphasized that current borrowing remains strategic and concessional.
“We canceled $5 billion in external debt when I last served,” Ngafuan said. “Today, we are prudently managing a $328 million service burden. The loans we’re taking are concessional and support high-impact reforms.”
He praised the economy’s resilience and the government’s fiscal discipline, saying that fears of collapse following the USAID cuts were unfounded.
“Some thought the sky would fall with the USAID cuts,” Ngafuan said. “But the fact that we are staying the course and hitting targets shows we are yielding good fruits.”
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