In Summary: Mr. Dehpue Zuo, Deputy Finance Minister for Economic Management, claims that the current administration inherited a debt stock of US$2.6 billion.We have reviewed the public debt management report of the first quarter of 2024 reflecting the debts incurred by the past administration. The evidence does not support Deputy Minister Zuo’s claim.
On August 27, Mr. Dehpue Zuo, Deputy Finance Minister for Economic Management, claimed that the government of President Joseph N. Boakai inherited a debt of US$2.6 billion from the administration of former president George M. Weah.
He made the claim during a press briefing [round 43:20 timestamp] at the Ministry of Information on the state of the Liberian economy and the payment of the World Bank debt following the suspension of new disbursement to the government by the World Bank.
Claim
Said Deputy Minister Zou: “As Mr. Myers said, we inherited a huge amount, US$ 2.6 billion debt, and we have to do it consciously to build the credibility of this nation by reassuring our partners, telling them that we will pay your money on time but give us time to do this”.
Rating Justification
To fact-check this claim, we first contacted Deputy Minister Zuo about the reliance on his claim. Mr. Zuo sent us a link to the Economic Management section of the ministry which contains documents of the Debt Management Reports. We found documents prepared by the Economic Management Department including the Public Debt Management Reports.
The first quarter Debt Management Report, which covers the period of January 1 to March 31, 2024. This shows the period the current administration took over. The report shows that the total public debt increased from US$2.39 billion in the last quarter of 2023 to US$2.41 billion in the first quarter of 2024.
Also, we viewed the most current Debt Management report for the second quarter of 2024 – April to June 2024. A chart on page 7 of the report shows the trend in Liberia’s total debt stock from the third quarter of 2023 to the second quarter of 2024. The chat shows that the total public debt at the end of December 2023 was US$ 2.40 billion.
The report also states that public debt grew by 6.7% at the end of June 2024 from US$2.41 billion in the first quarter of 2024 to US$2.57 billion in the second quarter.
The report attributes the increment in the total debt stock to external credits from AFREXIM BANK (US$50 million), World Bank (US$43.04 million) Bank Leumi (US$11.53 million), and the African Development Bank (US$5.98 million) to the current administration.
We also checked the approved National Budget for 2024 which states that total public debt stock at the end of December 2023 stood at US$2.33 billion.
We then viewed the Central Bank of Liberia’s Monthly Economic Review at the end of January 2024. The CBL report shows that the total public debt stock at the time was US$2.3 billion as of December 2023. This figure corresponds with the debt stock of US$2.3 billion captured in the first quarter of 2024.
Conclusion
Based on the review of the evidence as published by the MFDP and the CBL, we conclude that the claim made by the deputy finance minister for Debt Management that the administration of President Joseph Boakai inherited a debt of 2.6 billion is incorrect.
The MFDP Second Quarter Public Debt Management Report shows that public debt at the end of December 2023 stood at US$ 2.40 billion, also the Approved National Budget 2024 and the CBL Monthly Economic Review at the end of January 2024 put Liberia’s total debt at the end of December 2023 at a little over US$ 2.3 billion and not US$2.6 billion.
