AaagraIn Summary:
- Deputy Presidential Press Secretary Joseph Vallai claimed that the administration of President Joseph Boakai has allocated more funds to the agriculture budget in two years compared to the former administration of George Weah’s 5 fiscal years combined
- We have verified this claim by reviewing the National Budgets published by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning covering fiscal years 2018 through 2025
- We found that while the Boakai administration is prioritizing spending on agriculture with higher annual allocations, the total amount over two years remains less than the sum during the previous administration.
On July 21, Deputy Presidential Press Secretary Joseph Vallai claimed in a Facebook post that the administration of President Joseph Boakai has allocated more funds to the agriculture sector since it took office in 2024 than the former administration of George Weah did over five years.
Vallai made the claim while responding to Gbarpolu County Senator Amara Konneh, who had raised concerns regarding the country’s economic stability in 2023 as compared to the current situation.
The Claim:
An excerpt of Vallai’s post reads: “This government has put more money in the budget for agriculture in two (2) years than the CDC did in 5 years combined.”
Rating Justification
To verify this claim, we reviewed the National budgets published by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning covering fiscal years 2018 through 2025.
According to the Fiscal Year 2018/2019, the sector was allocated US$7,851,066.
For FY2019/2020 and FY2020/2021, the country’s agricultural sector received allotments of US$4,339,548 and US$6,425,415, respectively.
Meanwhile, in the 2021 Special Budget, when the government transitioned to a full Fiscal Year that runs from January and December of every year, the agricultural sector was allotted US$2,363,417 for the remaining six months from July and December that year, while in FY2022, it received an allotment of US$7,338,688.
During the CDC administration’s last budget year in 2023, it allocated US$5,422,938 to the sector.
In summary, the CDC administration allocated US$33.7 million to the agricultural sector during the five budget years combined.
On the other hand, the Boakai administration allotted US$6,753,966 for FY2024 and US$16,745,359 for this Fiscal Year 2025, putting the total amount allotted to the agriculture sector at US$23.5 million in the two years.
Conclusion
Based on a review of the National budgets, we conclude that Vallai’s claim that more money has been allocated to agriculture in two years during the current President Boakai administration, compared to the combined five years during the CDC administration, is misleading.
