By Amin Kef Sesay
The Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa, revealed, while dilating on the impacts of the COVID-19 on the country’s economy. during a radio program that was aired on the 10th June, 2020 via the Radio Democracy 98.1 Good Morning Salone Program, that when he took over the Ministry of Finance the country was in a very bad situation but as a team they did everything possible to address the situation further revealing that the national growth rate was staggering around 3.5% in 2017 and in 2019 the overall economic growth rate moved to 5.1%.
He also highlighted how the country lacked donor confidence, credibility and was out of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme completely underscoring that when such happens it means that by extension the country will have problems with other partners like the World Bank, Department for International Development (DfID). He said they were able to restore that relationship within eight months, adding that in 2018, they met a situation where inflation was 18% but by the end of 2019 inflation was 14%.
He also said they inherited a situation with less teachers and nurses but said they were able to employ over 5,000 teachers and 4,000 nurses and increased the minimum wage from Le500, 000 to Le 600,000.
Underscoring the impacts of COVID-19 on the economy, he said, the outbreak caused a drop in economic activities in the country, adding that Hotels, Mining companies, Agricultural activities were all affected resulting in a drop in the country’s GDP maintaining how a final assessment conducted by the Government of Sierra Leone and the IMF has projected that the economy by the end of this year will drop by -3.1 percent.
The Finance Minister postulated that when economic activities drop they have immediate impact on revenue, adding that the revenue projected in 2020 which is 6.4 Trillion will drop to 5.4 Trillion in other words 100 Million Dollars lost which will affect the overall revenue.
Jacob Jusu Saffa assured Sierra Leoneans that despite the COVID-19 pandemic the implementation of the 2020 budget and the National Medium term Development Plan may not be affected.
He said that it is expected that when there is a drop in revenue or slowdown in economic activities, budget implementation will be affected saying as a result of proactive leadership, they anticipated that and moved fast to mobilize external resources so that the revenue lost will not affect the implementation of the 2020 Budget.
He further revealed that under his leadership and support of the entire economic management team, the Government through a credible programme has mobilized additional resources from partners like $143M from IMF which is highly concessional, $25 from the Islamic Development Bank, $25M budget support for energy, $100M from the World Bank and $10M from the European Union.
He stated that Government is going to implement different projects on road, electricity, water, agriculture and youth empowerment as stated in the 2020 Budget, adding that these projects will not only bring service delivery to the people but also create job opportunities that will put food on the tables of Sierra Leoneans.
“This is going to be a big boost for residents in those places as they have been deprived from the national cake for over 40 years running,” he underscored pointing out how electricity and water supply are essential needs to foster development maintaining how the Government is indeed moving in the right direction to address the water and electricity constraints in those townships.
He admitted that the COVID-19 has negatively impacted the economy, but noted that the Government is on track to ensure that they cushion the impact through the Quick Action Economic Response Programme (QAERP) with the overall goal of maintaining macro-economic and financial stability and mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and households.
