By Jerromie S. Walters
Liberia’s Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) has urged all government entities to “prioritize their priorities” as the nation grapples with limited resources. The memo, signed by Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, accentuates the need for fiscal discipline and prudent budget management in the face of a challenging economic environment.
The directive, addressed to Ministries, Agencies, and Commissions (MACs), emphasizes the reality of resource scarcity and calls on heads of spending entities to exercise restraint. “Scarcity of resources is a reality, and all Heads or Senior Management of Spending Entities must not lose sight of this reality. You’re advised to prioritize the priorities,” the Ministry stated.
The MFDP has mandated strict adherence to the approved Fiscal Year 2025 budget, warning against overspending in the early months of the year. “Your budget is for the entire 12 months of 2025. So, you’re strongly advised NOT to execute your budget as if it were a six-month or one-quarter budget. You’re likely not to receive any supplemental resources from the government if you exhaust your budget lines early,” the memo cautioned.
The Ministry also highlighted the importance of effective budget management, noting that the national budget is a projection dependent on revenue generation efforts. “This year’s budget is US$880.7 million, reflecting a growth of 19.2% over last year’s Recast Budget of US$738.9 million. While this US$141.8 million increase is undeniably impressive, it is still far below the upwards of US$2 billion in funding requests for 2025 that the MFDP received from spending entities during the formulation of the current budget,” the Ministry explained.
Despite the budget increase, the MFDP has been inundated with requests for additional funds to address new priorities and unforeseen spending pressures. The Ministry clarified that the first source of funding for such demands should come from the spending entity’s own budget. “The first source to fund an unforeseen demand or priority that arises during budget execution should be the budget of the spending entity itself,” the memo stated.
The Ministry further revealed that only US$3.26 million was allocated as a contingency reserve fund in the 2025 budget, a figure it described as “minuscule” compared to the volume of legitimate unforeseen spending demands. “What this simply means is that the MFDP, operating within the structures of the Public Financial Management and Budget Transfer laws, must make the difficult decision of looking to other budgeted appropriations to fund legitimate unforeseen spending demands,” the Ministry added. The memo concluded with a call for cooperation from all spending entities to ensure the efficient and equitable execution of the national budget. “The cooperation of all spending entities is critical to ensuring the effi
