WASHINGTON, D.C. – Amid Liberia’s plummeting economy underpinned by rampant corruption in the public sector, the World Bank has committed to helping stabilize the country’s economy during the reign of President-elect Joseph Boakai, Smart News Liberia (SNL) has gathered.
Ahead of his inauguration slated for 22 January next year, Boakai and a team of Liberians working to forge much-needed foreign partnerships and garner some diplomatic gains for the incoming administration is currently in the United States, where the President-elect and his team have already met and held talks with scores of U.S. policymakers and trade representatives, as well as the heads of global development financing institutions including World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
A source privy to all discussions held so far by Boakai and team in the U.S. divulged to SNL that in a recent meeting in Washington, D.C., although, the World Bank acknowledged Liberia’s challenges, the Bank pledged its short-term assistance to the incoming administration.
The Bank expressed specific interest in mobilizing much-needed resources to help stabilize Liberia’s economy, as a short-term approach. At the same time, the Boakai-led administration embarks upon a much more comprehensive strategy to boost domestic and external resource mobilization, to fund the country’s development projects, according to our source.
Meanwhile, President-elect Boakai and Samantha Power, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Administrator, met on Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
During the Wednesday meeting, the USAID Administrator pledged her institution’s support to the Boakai administration’s fight against corruption.
Boakai and team’s consultative visit to Washington, D.C. has been described by many Liberians as a resounding success, as the President-elect and team heads for Minneapolis, where members of the team are expected to hold a town hall meeting with the Liberian Diaspora community.
The town hall discussions will be centered on post-election reconciliation and the untapped potential of Liberians in the Diaspora beyond their remittances to families and relatives back in Liberia, SNL has been reliably informed.
