In Summary
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A verification of claims made by Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan during an ELBC interview found his statements about Liberia’s debt stock and debt servicing allocations to be correct.
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The minister stated that Liberia’s total public debt stands at US$2.8 billion, comprising US$1.6 billion in external debt and US$1.2 billion in domestic debt.
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A review of the FY2026 National Budget and the Central Bank of Liberia’s 2025 Annual Report confirmed that the country’s public debt stock was approximately US$2.8 billion as of 2025, with the debt composition matching the minister’s figures.
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We also verified his claim that the government allocated US$230 million for debt servicing in the FY2026 budget, with an additional US$2 million in the supplementary budget, bringing the total debt-service allocation to US$232 million.
Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan recently appeared in an ELBC interview and made several claims about the Country’s debt stock. According to him, the country’s current debt stock stands at US$2.8 billion, comprising US$1.6 billion in external debt and US$1.2 billion in domestic debt. He further stated that US$230 million was allocated in the FY2026 National Budget for debt servicing, with an additional US$2 million allotment in the supplementary budget.
Fact Check By: Naketa Maye Roberts | LMEP Fact-checking Grant Fellow
Minister Ngafuan made the statements on May 20 during an appearance on the Liberia Broadcasting System Super Morning Show, while outlining strides government is making in managing the economy.
According to him, the government remains committed to servicing its debt payments to improve Liberia’s international credibility and create opportunities for investment.
The Claim #1
His exact words are: “Liberia’s current debt stock stands at US$2.8 billion, the external debt is US$1.6 billion, while domestic debt stands at US$1.2 billion.”
Rating Justification
To verify these claims, we reviewed the Government of Liberia’s approved FY2026 National Budget and the Draft FY2026 Supplementary Budget.
Our findings show that, as of November 2025, Liberia’s total public debt stock stood at US$2.81 billion, of which US$1.6 billion or 57.6% of the total debt stock accounts for external debt, while domestic debt accounted for US$1.19 billion, or 42.4%.
We also reviewed the 2025 Annual Report of the Central Bank of Liberia which shows that the country’s public debt stock expanded by 7.2 percent in 2025, amounting to US$2.8 billion (54.1% of GDP), from US$2.6 billion (55.2% of GDP) in 2024.
The report furthered that domestic debt showed a rise of 10.3% to approximately US$1.2 billion, while external debt accounted for US$1.6 billion.
Conclusion
Based on these findings, we conclude that the claim made by Minister Ngafuan that Liberia’s current debt stock stands at US$2.8 billion, comprising US$1.6 billion in external debt and US$1.2 billion in domestic debt, is correct.
According to a review of the 2026 National Budget and the 2025 Annual Report of the Central Bank of Liberia, public debt stock as of 2025 stood at US$2.8 billion, comprising of US$1.19 billion in domestic debt and US$1.6 billion in external debt.
Claim #2
During the radio interview, Minister Ngafuan also claimed that: “The Government allocated US$230 million in the FY2026 National Budget for debt servicing, with an additional US$2 million in the supplementary budget, bringing the total to US$232 million.”
Rating Justification
To verify this claim, we reviewed the approved 2026 National Budget and the 2026 Draft Supplementary Budget.
A reviewed of the National Budget revealed that the government of Liberia projected US$230 million for debt servicing. Of this amount, the administration projected US$159.03 for domestic debt and US$68.20 million for external debt.
Additionally, we reviewed the 2026 draft supplementary budget and found that the government allocated additional US$2,000,741 towards settlement of its domestic debt, bring the total amount projected to service public debt in FY2026 to US$232 million.
Conclusion
Based on these finding from our research, we conclude that the claim is correct. Our review of the 2026 National Budget and the supplementary budget found that the government of Liberia allocated US$232 million for the servicing of its public debt in FY2026.
Editor’s Note: This story is produced as part of the Liberia Media Empowerment Project (LMEP) implemented by Internews with funding from the European Union. The funder or partner had no say in the production of this fact-check report.
