Published: October 26, 2026
MONROVIA – Euphemia Gbadee Swen-Monmia, nominated as the Central Bank of Liberia’s top economic policymaker, told the Senate on Thursday that her top priority would be keeping inflation low and protecting the purchasing power of the Liberian dollar. Her other priorities include safeguarding the country’s reserves, deepening financial markets, defending the bank’s independence, and expanding access to credit for small businesses.
By Lennart Dodoo
Swen-Monmia, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s nominee for deputy governor of economic policy, presented the agenda to the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency. She has spent 16 years at the bank, rising from management trainee to acting deputy governor.
“Price stability remains the Central Bank’s most important contribution to economic prosperity,” she said in her statement to the committee.
Swen-Monmia is already doing much of the work. Since returning from the International Monetary Fund, she has served as acting deputy governor for economic policy. She chairs the bank’s Pre-Monetary Policy Committee and the interagency Liquidity Working Group, serves on the Monetary Policy Committee, and leads the technical National Non-Performing Loan Resolution team.
She asked senators to weigh what she has delivered, not only her credentials. “I respectfully ask that my nomination be considered not only based on my qualifications, but also based on results achieved throughout my career,” she said.
Swen-Monmia said she helped lead the shift to market-based monetary policy tools, including open market operations and CBL bills. She said those reforms improved liquidity management and helped bring inflation down to single digits. She said she designed and led the rollout of Liberia’s Collateral Registry, with support from the International Finance Corporation, and that the registry has enabled more than 1,800 borrowers to obtain financing by pledging movable assets as collateral.
She also said she led reforms to the bank’s reserve management, which improved reserve accumulation and income. She said she has helped advance a reserve diversification strategy that includes gold holdings, along with a proposed Foreign Exchange Management Framework.
Swen-Monmia joined the bank in 2010 as a management trainee in the Regulation and Supervision Department. She served as a bank examiner, senior bank examiner, registrar of the Collateral Registry, and assistant director. In 2017, after completing a master’s degree at the University of Reading, she moved to the newly created Financial Markets Department, where she rose to deputy director and then director. She said the department now plays a central role in implementing monetary policy and managing liquidity. From 2023 to 2024, she worked as a macroeconomist in the IMF’s African Department in Washington.
“My professional journey from Management Trainee to Acting Deputy Governor has been shaped by service, continuous learning, integrity, and a determination to deliver results,” she said.
Swen-Monmia told the committee that Liberia’s economy is considerably more stable than it was a few years ago. She said inflation has eased to 4.6 percent and gross international reserves have risen to nearly US$1 billion, enough to cover about 3.3 months of imports as of August 2026. She said the Liberian dollar gained nearly 8 percent over the same period and that the economy is projected to grow about 5.5 percent this year.
She said the banking system’s capital adequacy ratio stands at about 39.6 percent, well above regulatory requirements. She said non-performing loans fell from about 19.1 percent of the loan book in 2024 to 12.9 percent in 2025. Bad loans still hold back lending to the private sector, she said, despite ample liquidity in the banks.
“While these developments are encouraging, we must not become complacent,” she said. “The challenge before policymakers is therefore not merely to preserve stability, but to transform stability into sustainable and inclusive growth that creates opportunities for all Liberians.”
On the bank’s independence, Swen-Monmia pledged to uphold the Central Bank of Liberia Act and to appear before the Senate whenever she is called. “I will safeguard monetary discipline, preserve the distinction between monetary policy and fiscal operations, and support decision-making grounded in sound analysis and evidence,” she said.
On access to credit, she said: “I will continue efforts to reduce barriers to finance, particularly for small businesses and underserved populations, while ensuring that financial inclusion advances alongside sound risk management and financial stability.”
Swen-Monmia also holds a bachelor’s degree in public administration from the African Methodist Episcopal University and a graduate certificate in capital markets from George Washington University. She has trained in monetary policy and central banking at Japan’s Hitotsubashi University through JICA, and completed executive education at Harvard Kennedy School. She is from Sinoe County, was born in Maryland County and was raised in Montserrado County.
The committee, chaired by Sen. Joseph K. Jallah, will report on the nomination to the full Senate, which must vote to confirm her.
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