-As Liberia’s Revenue Tops $1 Billion
By Jerromie S. Walters
MONROVIA — President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has announced plans to establish a dedicated Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to provide affordable financing for Liberian-owned businesses, as his government revealed that domestic revenue has surpassed the US$1 billion mark for the first time in the nation’s 179-year history.
“My government is considering, in the very near future, setting aside a portion of these revenues through a dedicated Special Purpose Vehicle to provide affordable financing for Liberian-owned businesses and to support other critical sectors of the economy,” Boakai said in a special national address Monday.
The President said the move aligns with his administration’s ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development and its commitment to broad-based economic participation.
Boakai framed the SPV as part of a broader promise that the record revenue — raised at home through taxes, duties and fees, not borrowed and not foreign aid — would be felt directly by ordinary Liberians.
“A billion dollars raised is a billion dollars entrusted,” he said. “Every dollar must serve the public good and advance the ARREST Agenda. It must serve to improve the general conditions of our people.”
He said the revenue must translate into tangible results: “It means an ordinary market woman must receive support to improve her conditions; civil servants must experience a reversal of the harmonization of their salaries; a young student must receive quality education and a conducive environment for learning; our public hospitals must receive regular supply of medicines, and our doctors, nurses, teachers and other public servants must be sustained at their duty stations.”
Domestic revenue stood at approximately US699 million in 2024 and US1.3 billion by December. “For the first time in Liberia’s 179-year history, we have raised more than one billion United States dollars in domestic revenue in a single year,” Boakai announced. “This is domestic revenue raised at home — earned, not borrowed, and not foreign aid.”
The President credited Commissioner General Dorbor Jallah and the Liberia Revenue Authority, the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, and a whole-of-government approach — along with “the resilience of the Liberian People.”
“When we submitted the 2026 National Budget in November 2025, many doubted this day would ever come,” he said. “But in just two years and eight months, not six years, we have reached this historic 1 billion US-dollar mark.”
According to LRA Commissioner General Jallah and Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, the growth is attributed to technology-driven automation, stricter compliance frameworks and broader data enforcement tools, alongside key concession renegotiations — including a reported US$200 million windfall from ArcelorMittal Liberia.
The revenue has already funded salary increases for more than 23,000 public service workers in health, public works, the security sector, the Judiciary, and at the General Auditing Commission and Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission. More than 3,400 long-serving volunteer teachers and health workers have been placed on the national payroll, while the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency has been strengthened and 600 new Armed Forces personnel recruited and trained.
It is also funding the procurement and deployment of yellow machines for road works across the counties. Boakai reserved his praise for the nation’s taxpayers — including the businesses the SPV is intended to support.
“To our taxpayers — market women, traders, workers, professionals and businesses — this achievement belongs to you,” he said. “Every honest declaration, every receipt, and every payment made on time was an act of faith in Liberia. You kept faith with your country, and your country must keep faith with you.”
The milestone comes amid significant global uncertainty, with the administration citing deliberate efforts to stabilize prices and ensure steady supplies of rice and fuel despite Middle East crises and disruptions to global trade.
Boakai cautioned against complacency: “We have raised one billion dollars, yet the dreams and aspirations of our people are greater than one billion. The reward for good work is the responsibility to do better work and remain accountable.”
