By Francis H. Murray
The government of Sierra Leone, through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, has said that the delay in salary payment for January was due to high domestic and external debt inherited from the previous administration.
In a statement released by the ministry on Thursday, it explained that the government also had to embark on “pro-poor service delivery”, forcing it to redivert available resources.
“The reason for the slippage was as a result of the need for government to meet some critical pro-poor service delivery expenditures in January, on health (Free Health Care Drugs and Hospital Grants), Education, school feeding, subventions to universities and other tertiary institutions), Security, Energy and the National Civil Registration Programm,” the statement said.
‘‘The very high weekly debt service payments as a result of high domestic and external debt stock inherited from the previous administration, averaging about Le30 billion; accounting for 25% to 30% of domestic revenue collection, also pose a risk to the timely payment of salaries,’’ it added.
The ministry said they had now paid salaries for the month of January.
According to them, the payments cover foreign missions; security sector; Ministries, Departments and Agencies; Universities and Tertiary Institutions; Political Class; Consultants; and Sub-vented Agencies.
The statement also clarified that the salaries of security forces, which included the military, police, fire fighters, correctional service, Office of National Security, were paid on January 30th.
The Ministry continued that in addition to the salaries of the security forces, an amount of about Le20 billion was paid to universities and other tertiary institutions on 23rd January 2020.
The University of Sierra Leone is currently in a stand-off with the ministry over salary restructuring, delay and several other issues.
The ministry explained that they inherited more than US$ 2 billion in debt.
‘‘Recent arrears verified by the Auditor General, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and IMF [International Monetary Fund] owed to domestic contractors and inherited from the previous administration in April 2018 amounted to Le3.2 trillion (or about USS$340 million), of which 90% were accrued in 2016 and 2017,’’ it said.
“External debt is estimated at USS$1.6 billion and domestic debt at US$650 million, which brings a total liability estimated at US$2.59 billion,” the statement continued.
The explanations though have not spared government some criticism for the difficult economic situation in the country. But the government said despite the challenges, they have been able to fulfill their obligations.
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