Summary: Since the announcement of an increment of the price of the 25kg bag of Indian parboiled rice, a former official of George Weah’s regime has claimed that the price of rice was kept at US$14 in the first four years of the former administration. We have verified the statement and found it correct.
Mr. Eugene Lenn Nagbe has claimed in a Facebook post that former President George Weah maintained the price of rice “affordable” at US$14 during the first four months of his tenure.
Mr. Nagbe was a former Commissioner of the Liberia Maritime Authority, Minister of Information, during the administration of former President Weah. He also served as the Campaign manager of the Coalition for Democratic Change in the 2023 elections.
He made the post following the announcement by Amin Moda, Minister of Commerce and Industry, on May 20 that the price of a 25kg bag of Indian parboil rice was to be increased from US$17.00 to US$18.50.
The Claim
Nagbe’s post included the following statement: “President Weah kept the price of rice affordable and available at 17 dollars tops (14 dollars for the first 4 years, 17 after the Indian tariffs) throughout his tenure, even during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Rating Justification
To verify the statement, we checked the website of the Ministry of Commerce for information on the price of rice during the last six years, but we did not find any relevant information.
We then checked several news sources to gather information about the price of rice between 2018 and 2023. According to News Public Trust, in February 2018, President Weah met with rice importers and agreed to reduce the price of a 25kg bag of rice by $2.00 from US$16.00 to US$14.00. Before the meeting, the price of the 25kg rice was US$16.00.
FrontPage Africa also reported on June 8, 2021, that after the meeting in 2018, the price of the 25kg bag of rice was reduced to $13.50 for wholesale and US$14 for the retail market.
In 2022, the Ministry of Information announced that the government took a measure to maintain the price of rice by subsidies to rice importers following a demand for an increment in the retail price of the commodity from US$13.50 to US$16.00 for a 25kg bag on the local market.
That price was also maintained until December 2022 when the Ministry of Commerce issued a statement increasing the wholesale price of the 25kg bag of rice from US$13.50 to US$17.00 while the retail price was increased from US$14.00 to US$17.50 respectively.
Conclusion
Based on these findings, Eugene Nagbe’s claim that President Weah maintained the price of rice at US$14 during the first four years of his administration is Correct. Upon taking office in January 2018, the price of a 25kg bag of rice was US$16.00, which was then reduced to US$14.00 and remained at that price until December 2022 when it was increased to US$17.50.
This means the price of the 25kg bag of rice was maintained at a retail price of US$14 in the first four years of President Weah’s administration from 2018 to 2022.
This report is produced with funding from the USAID Media Activity. The funder has No say in the editorial decisions leading to the production of this content.
