Liberia Hosts AFRITAC 7th Steering Committee Meeting

Monrovia, Liberia - The 7th steering committee of the African Regional Technical Assistance Center (AFRITAC) in West Africa gets underway Tuesday, March 19, 2019 at the Mamba Point Hotel in Monrovia.

The day-long event is being organized by the Government of Liberia and its partners.

According to MFDP press release issued late Monday evening says Finance and Development Planning Minister Hon. Samuel D. Tweah, Jr., will chair the meeting which focuses on issues of achievements, challenges, as well as lessons learned during Phase One of the last five years.

Preparation for Phase Two of the program over the next five years will also be discussed at the Tuesday’s meeting.
Accordingly, the Release adds that AFRITAC West 2 over the past five years, supported member countries, including Liberia, to design and implement capacity development programs that are crucial for macroeconomic stability and growth.

AFRITAC West 2 was established by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide capacity development within Cape Verde, the Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone with annual meetings being hosted rotationally amongst member states.

AFRITAC interventions provide technical assistance, training, and strengthening policies to support the stabilization of economies to promote growth and reduce poverty in areas of Tax Administration, Customs Administration, Public Financial Management, Banking and Financial Sector Supervision and Regulation, including Monetary Operations, policy, and payment systems and statistics, as well as Legal frameworks.

AFW2’s work across various sectors led to achievements of several key milestones across member countries including the center support to the drafting and review of Public Financial Management regulations that were designed to further strengthen PFM legal frameworks.

The Release also said that the Center provided much needed technical support during the Ebola crisis, and has since focused its capacity development efforts on giving the LRA the necessary tools to strengthen risk management, improving audit capacity, and developing standard operating procedures for better compliance management. 
As AFRITAC West 2 comes to the end of Phase I and embarks on a new phase, the group intends to improve the volume and quality of capacity development activities to member countries.

The upcoming technical session will bring together relevant stakeholders, namely: Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Central Bank of Liberia, LRA and LISGIS.