Monrovia, Liberia - Finance and Development Planning Minister, Hon. Samuel D. Tweah Jr, says regional integration is critical for transformation across Africa, especially among neighbouring countries to include Liberia, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria and others.
He made the disclosure during a courtesy visit of World Bank Group One Executive Director Mr. Floribert Ngaruko on Tuesday February 14, 2023.
According to him, when regional integration is at the large scale, it will influence the local economy and create jobs.
He thanked the World Bank Group under the outgoing Executive Director for the level of commitment shown for Liberia’s development, as well as, for the Bank’s financial support towards the budget and other critical areas of the economy.
He commended the Bank for what he termed as its “extraordinary” support to Liberia, and called on them to ensure that there is more integration through the roads network in order to allow business and ordinary travellers to have smooth access to other regions of Africa.
“Looking at the current cost of airfare around the region, it is too high. So if we have more roads open among neighbouring countries, no one will want to fly but to move by road transportation,” he said.
He expressed the need for transnational integration in West Africa to influence local transformation in agriculture, roads, electricity, and to provide jobs for citizens of the region.
The Liberian Fiscal Chief asked the Bank to develop a model that will promote cross-national integration, adding that the country’s new development plan for 2024 will focus more on growth in the private sector.
For his part, the World Bank Executive Director for Africa Group 1, Mr. Floribert Ngaruko noted that some policy measures instituted by Liberia has placed the country amongst few African countries, which are having a good macroeconomic stability.
The Bank’s regional executive lauded the government and the leadership of President Weah for swift interventions during the coronavirus crisis that helped stabilize the economy.
According to him, the Bank will focus on the “twin-model” by ending extreme poverty by 2030 and promoting shared prosperity of the World Bank group by additionally looking at global challenges including climate change and pandemic preparedness.
The World Bank Group One Executive Director, Executive Director Advisor, Minister of Finance and Development Planning and the Senior Management of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning attended the meeting.