By Mada Augustine Ngombu
The Government of Sierra Leone is set to receive 100 million dollars from the World Bank to help enhance accountability and transparency in public finance and improve on the country’s natural resource management.
The Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Monday 5th December 2022 approved the funding which is the Second Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Development Policy Financing (DPF).
The Development Policy Financing is the second in a series of three operations which builds on a programmatic reform plan to support sustainable, robust, and inclusive growth in the country.
The World Bank Country manager for Sierra Leone, Abdu Muwonge, said Sierra Leone’s capabilities to eradicate extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity rest on sustained macroeconomic stability, robust growth, and a solid enabling environment for leveraging its abundant natural resources.
He added that this financing will help address the immediate fiscal challenges, while improving overall governance to build resilience and enhance the delivery of services to the people of Sierra Leone.
The bank says sustainable and inclusive growth has been constrained by the country’s exposure to economic, epidemic, and climactic shocks as well as pervasive governance weaknesses, and limited fiscal space and fiscal risks, which inhibit the ability to promote pro-poor growth through public investment.
It notes that Sierra Leone’s economy has been affected by back-to-back crises, which have aggravated inflationary and fiscal pressures, and increased the risks to debt sustainability. The reforms supported by the operation will help address several critical developmental challenges while also helping to meet increased financing needs of the government.
The World Bank Senior Economist and Task Team Leader, Smriti Seth said the ongoing structural reforms, including those supported by the operation input markets such as land, labor, and natural resource management will support sustainability and resilience in the economy.
Seth said the World Bank will continue to support the government of Sierra Leone in its commitment to tackle crucial structural reforms to promote inclusive growth in the country.
The Development Policy Financing (DPF) is aligned with the Government’s Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP 2019-2023). The Mining reforms is supported by the operation which will help improve revenue collection, while reforms in auditing and state-owned enterprises’ governance will help control expenditures, easing fiscal pressures and creating space for growth-promoting investment.
The program builds on a strong foundation established by the first operation in the series, which initiated landmark legislative reforms, including promoting decentralized and inclusive land management, strengthening governance and licensing practices in the mining sector, and promoting gender inclusivity in education and employment.
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