Liberian - Business And Economic News

[Håkønljzberg]

Pres. Sirleaf Regrets Collapse of Libya's Lofa Project

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf says she is disturbed by the premature closure of the US30 milliom African Development Aid (ADA), a private mechanized rice project supported in Lofa County by the Libyan Government under now assassinated Moammar Gadhafi.

The project, which employed several hundred Liberians in Foya, was prematurely closed due to the uprising that led to the death of Libyan leader, Col. Gadhafi.

"It (the ADA Project) is something we ourselves are disturbed about," President Sirleaf told citizens of Foya District in Lofa County on Tuesday.

"It disappointed us. We thought it was going to work but it failed," she lamented.

Nevertheless, she revealed that Vice President Joseph Boakai is trying to find another company to revive the project, but cautioned the citizens to be patient.

The scheme, she said, was supposed to be a "big project to produce enough rice that was to even feed the entire nation".

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[Håkønljzberg]

President Sirleaf Off to Nigeria for ECOWAS Summit

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is among leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) attending the 40th Ordinary Session of the Authority, convening in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. At the top of the agenda of the two-day session, which opened Thursday, are the allocation of statutory positions at the Commission and other Community institutions.

According to ECOWAS authorities, another highlight of the Summit, being presided over by the current ECOWAS Chairman, Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, will be the allocation of the position of President of the Commission.

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[Kangaroo MZ]

Egypt Air Resumes Flight to Liberia

Two documents aimed at promoting cooperation on civil aviation between Liberia and Egypt were signed on Tuesday Cairo, Egypt.


The two documents set the stage for Egypt Air to resume flights to Monrovia, a release from the Egyptian embassy in Monrovia has disclosed.

Egypt Air will fly from Cairo to Monrovia, through Accra. The resumption of the Egyptian airline to the country takes effect next year.

Also, the recently signed documents called for more Egyptian scholarships to be offered to Liberians in the field of civil aviation.

Richelieu A. Williams, the Director General of the Liberia Civil Aviation Authority, signed on behalf of the Government of Liberia, while Captain Alaa Ashour, president of the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA), signed on behalf of his government.

Liberia’s envoy to Egypt, Mr. Alexander Wallace, and Egyptian Ambassador to Liberia, Maher El-Adawy, witnessed the signing ceremony.

Ambassador El-Adawy hailed the signing of the both documents as a historic event; adding that the documents represent the first-ever signed legal documents of cooperation between both countries in the field of civil aviation.

Aviation and Maritime are now the two fields in which Liberia and Egypt will cooperate a great deal. It may be recalled that both countries recently signed an MOU on maritime affairs in Alexandria, Egypt.

Ambassador El-Adawy noted that both documents, in addition to the upcoming visit by top executives of The Arab Contractors, one of the biggest construction companies in Egypt, to also be followed by a second visit by an Egyptian private businessmen delegation to Liberia, will mark another milestone in the cooperation between both countries.

Liberia Civil Aviation Authority Director General, Williams toured all the state-of-the-art facilities of the Egyptian Civil Aviation and Egypt Air in Cairo and commended Egypt highly for the attained advanced technical know-how in this sector and for the desire to increase cooperation between the two countries

http://www.liberianobserver.com/inde...ght-to-liberia

[Kangaroo MZ]

Construction of a degree-granting university (US$22.5 million) on a 100-acre land in Gbeh Town

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church(SDA) in Liberia recently broke grounds for the construction of a degree-granting university at the cost of US$22.5 million on a 100-acre land in Gbeh Town, Robertsfield highway, Margibi County.


At a well attended ceremony, SDA officials reminded Liberians,foreigners and students of the institution that the construction of the university was in furtherance of the church’s contribution to the educational and socio-economic development of the country.

Already, the SDA officials intimated that US$4million has been earmarked to start constructing the Adventist University of West Africa (AUWA) at the acquired land in Gbeh Town.

Speaking at the program, the acting president of AUWA ,Dr. Shelton Beedoe, reminded Liberians that the SDA Church was in the business of providing quality education.Quality education, he said, will help the government transform the nation at all levels.

Earlier, the Dean of AUWA University Relations, Mr. Amos B. Horace, welcomed the various delegations and emphasized the need to support the realization of the university project in the country. He also extended thanks and appreciation to the initial contributors to the AUWA project and stressed the need for further support.

For his part, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of AUWA, Pastor James M. Golay, called Liberians to generously contribute to the full implementation of the university project in the country. “We, as Liberians of the SDA-Liberia Church, have initially envisaged providing quality education to all Liberians, irrespective of religious, economic and political backgrounds in the Liberian society,” Chairman Golay stressed.

In remarks, Representative Gabriel Smith of Grand Bassa County said the ground-breaking ceremony marked the beginning of the dawning of a new day for quality education for Liberians.

In a joyous mood, Rep. Smith presented US$200 as his family’s initial contribution towards the construction of the AUWA University.

In an official statement, the Columbia Union of Adventists (CUA) in the United States of America presented a check of US$50,000.00 as initial contribution of members based in that part of the world.

An official of the CUA reminded all Liberians that their financial contribution for the construction of the AUWA University was intended to enhance the quality and professional development of the Liberian educational system.

For their part, the official delegation of the Nigerian SDA church also pledged US$10,000 for the construction of the university.

The delegation assured the SDA-Liberia officials and members of the Nigerian Adventists continuous support and cooperation towards the completion of the project.

Also in brief remarks, Assistant Minister of Operations at the Ministry of Public Works, William Slour, pledged the ministry’s support in the realization of the AUWA University construction works.

During the AUWA University ground-breaking ceremony, several prominent Liberians and government officials assured the SDA-Liberian officials and members of their unflinching financial, moral and material support towards the completion of the project.

http://www.liberianobserver.com/inde...0000-donations

[Håkønljzberg]

Kangaroo MZ, thanks!

[Paperyostrich]

MONROVIA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Discussions are underway between India and Liberia to construct a solar energy center in the West African country, officials said on Wednesday.

Indian Ambassador accredited to Liberia Anal K Sharan made the disclosure after presenting his letters of credence to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Wednesday. Sharan expressed optimism that this will happen very shortly.

Sharan said plans were also underway by his government to send professors to Liberia to help improve the country's academic system.

Sharan said a decision will be reached on how many Indian professors would be deployed in Liberia.

The Indian envoy said his country believes in human resource development and is very happy to share his country's experience with Liberia.

Last year, eight rural Liberian women left the country for India to pursue studies in rural electrification at Barefoot College in Tilonia, Rajastah.

The women who returned months ago are now empowered to electrify their own villages and subsequently serve as trainers.

Something Good from Liberia

From http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/wo..._131928100.htm

[Paperyostrich]

MONROVIA, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Liberian government in partnership with the World Bank and other international partners Monday launched the Integrated Public Financial Management Reform Project (IPFMRP) to strengthen fiscal discipline and enhance transparency and accountability in Liberia.

The landmark 28.55 million U.S dollars project will also enhance revenue mobilization and administration as well as provide support to the Public Financial Reform Agenda, according to the finance ministry officials.

Acting Finance Minister Sebastian Muah who launched the project in the capital Monrovia said the project will further deepen reforms that will advance accountability, transparency and reduce corruption in public institutions.

He said the project will enable Liberia's public financial management systems to graduate from transactional leadership in PFM to the kind of transformational leadership that will focus on driving the economy coherently to accelerate the aspirations and goals set out in the agenda for transformation.

Muah said public financial management is central to the country' s effort for sustainable economic growth and development through the efficient utilization of public resources.

The acting finance minister told his audience that the PFM strategy, crafted with the assistance of the World Bank and the IMF is anchored in the country's Agenda for Transformation and seeks to widen and strengthen PFM reforms that were initiated in 2006.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Inguna Dobraja, World Bank Country Manager for Liberia project, said the new PFM project will pursue concrete improvements in selected systems, procedures, and resources, in a manner that would enable Liberia to gradually develop its own institutional, organizational, and human resource capacities in the next three to four years consistent with the Bank's broader agenda in improving governance.

The PFM project was ratified by the 53rd Liberian Legislature in June 2012. It was initiated to work towards improving budget coverage, fiscal policy management, financial control and oversight of government's finances.

The World Bank is lending 5 million dollars out of the overall 28.55 million dollars project cost which will be jointly financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) in the equivalent amount of 15.10 million dollars; the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) - 3.85 million dollars; and the African Development Bank (AfDB) - 4.6 million dollars.

Sida and USAID financing will be channeled through a World Bank- administered Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), and the African Development Bank will coordinate its disbursements with the other development partners.

Something else I found quite intresting

From http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/wo..._131928100.htm

[Paperyostrich]

This one is a little bit older, about a month. I hope you don't mind

MONROVIA, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) on Tuesday released its second quarterly report ending June 30, 2012, reporting stable growth in total assets, loans, and deposits in the West African country's banking sector. The CBL in its quarterly Financial and Economic Bulletin said the banking industry continues to be well capitalized and liquid.

But the CBL report however noted that profitability remains a challenge due to poor asset quality of a number of banks as a result of general macroeconomic environment and high loan loss provisions driven by weak credit administration.

The report indicates that the banking industry's balance sheet, in terms of total assets, expanded by 6.9 percent to 783.0 million U.S dollars compared to the first quarter. According to the bulletin, on year-on-year basis, total assets grew by 28.9 percent when matched with the corresponding period in 2011.

The CBL in the report said total capital increased 5.1 percent against the amount reported at the end of March 2012.

"The industry's capital position, however, increased by 3.7 percent above the same quarter of 2011.Overall, the growth rates reflect continuous confidence in the banking system, increased financial deepening and accelerated economic activities," the CBL said.

The CBL said the industry's Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) declined during the review quarter due largely to surge in risk assets, particularly off-balance sheet exposure by more than 55.0 percent.

The report said non-performing loans as ratio of total loans in the industry decreased from 23.6 percent to 19.6 percent at the end of June 2012 adding it decreased from 55.2 million dollars to 47.0 dollars.

According to the CBL, at the end of June 2012, the banking industry recorded gross earnings of 35.4 million dollars and operating profit of 8.7 million dollars before loan loss provisions and taxes, reflecting an improvement of 16.7 percent in gross earnings and 18.0 percent decline in operating profit compared with the corresponding quarter in 2011

From http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/wo..._131885825.htm

[hakz2007]

CBL Boosts Liba's Loan Scheme With U.S.$5 Million

The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has provided US$5 million to the Liberia Business Association (LIBA) in support of its loan scheme across the country.

The amount was announced Monday by Central Bank Executive Governor Dr. J. Mills Jones at the launch of LIBA's loan scheme at the Monrovia City Hall.

Dr. Jones said the gesture is part of strategies by the CBL to build the capacity of Liberian owned businesses for economic growth.

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