In the last few days, social media users have been sharing a letter believed to be addressed to Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah Jr. concerning the “suspension of disbursements” by the World Bank to the Republic of Liberia.
The Claim
An excerpt of the letter under the signature of the Bank’s Vice President for Western and Central Africa, Ousmane Diagana reads: “On October 31, 2023, the World Bank (“Bank”) notified Republic of Liberia (“Member Country”) of the Bank’s intention to suspend withdrawals under all effective and not fully withdrawn IDA financings, Project Preparation Facility (PPF) advances and Institutional Development Fund (“IDF”) grants to or guaranteed by the Member Country (collectively the “Disbursing Loans”), unless all payments due and payable under the Disbursing Loans were received by November 14, 2023.”
Before the letter was shared, Gbapolu County Senator-elect, Amara Konneh took to Facebook alerting that his sources in Washington D.C had informed him that “the World Bank has suspended disbursement to the GoL for failure to service its loans for over 60 days.”
Rating Justification
We authenticate the truthfulness of this claim and conclude that it is correct.
To fact-check the authenticity of the information, we contacted World Bank Liberia Office and received confirmation that the information in the letter is authentic.
The Bank Country Office Communications department in its reply to us via WhatsApp wrote: “Liberia has reached 60 days overdue on its debt repayment to the World Bank. The Bank’s ability to mobilize resources for the benefit of the country and its people, depends critically on the punctual servicing of debt to the Bank.
“We hope that the arrears situation can be resolved promptly so that operations can resume for the benefits of the people of Liberia. The World Bank has been a long-standing partner of Liberia and reiterates its commitment to support it to overcome the development challenges the country is enduring.”
Conclusion
Based on these facts, we conclude that the letter being shared on social media disclosing that the World Bank has suspended disbursement to Liberia is authentic.
The World Bank Liberia Office has confirmed that it took the decision to suspend disbursements to the country because it has reached 60 days overdue on debt repayment.
This report was developed with the support of Internews through the USAID Media Activity project. The funder has no say in the editorial decision leading to the production of this content