Praises World Bank Partnership
Monrovia, Liberia – Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, Liberia’s Minister of Finance and Development Planning, has declared that despite ongoing budgetary difficulties, the nation is making quantifiable progress in infrastructure, education, governance, and economic reforms as the government strengthens ties with the World Bank, its biggest development partner.
Speaking at the Liberia Country Portfolio and Performance Review (CPPR) for World Bank-funded projects on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at the Bella Casa Hotel, Minister Ngafuan stated that Liberia is making steady progress in a number of important areas, including public administration, agriculture, energy, education, infrastructure, commerce, industry, and social development.
According to him, the World Bank is Liberia’s biggest partner, noting that Liberia’s national development agenda is heavily supported by international financing and strategic partnerships aimed at improving public service delivery and national growth. However, he highlighted ongoing construction and renovation of schools, roads, and public facilities across the country, as well as support for school feeding programs benefiting over 220,000 children nationwide.
Also, the Minister pointed to stronger domestic revenue generation and increased national budget performance as signs of progress. “We are not where we want to be yet, but we are not where we used to be. Today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow will be better than today,” he said.
Ngafuan stressed that despite delays in some external partner disbursements, Liberia has continued to sustain key development programs through improved internal resource mobilization, describing last year’s domestic revenue performance as historic. He further announced plans to strengthen accountability and performance within project implementation units by introducing recognition and reward systems for high-performing ministries and project managers.
Also speaking, the World Bank Country Director in Liberia Georgia Wallen, praised the government for what she described as visible and measurable reform efforts across the public sector. She said the CPPR serves as an important platform to assess the breadth of financial reforms taking place and to encourage honest reflection on implementation challenges and successes.
“One of the outcomes of today’s meeting is to help you gain a perspective of the breadth of the financial reform that is happening. We want to use this as an opportunity for open discussion to reflect on what’s working, what’s not working, and to see that measurable progress has been made since last year,” Madam Wallen narrated.
Additionally, the World Bank Country Director reiterated the organization’s dedication to ongoing cooperation with Liberia, characterising the partnership as robust and essential for maintaining development gains. In order to assess the effectiveness of donor-funded projects and improve implementation tactics throughout Liberia’s development portfolio, the CPPR convened government officials, project managers, development partners, and World Bank representatives.
Reported by: Prince Saah
