Of the various ills the economy can face, inflation is the worst for society as a whole, and yet the easiest for individuals to deal with successfully. The strategies for dealing with inflation are pretty straightforward. In practice, of course, it isn’t so simple.
When inflation is bad, prices go up every month (maybe every week), but wages and salaries generally only go up once a year. People are always feeling like they’re playing catch up.
Inflation works its harm on the economy in several different ways. None of them are really due to the inflation itself, which is why economists always insist on pointing out that mere inflation does little harm. The harm is done, though. It’s just one step removed.
We can think about the damage done when taxes are owed on the illusory profits on transactions that were break-even or worse. This drains money out of the economy at every transaction. The government can mitigate this harm in several different ways (cutting tax rates being the easiest, but also through any of a large variety of tax indexing or tax rebate schemes, special allowances, deductions, credits, etc.)
Another way that inflation hurts the economy is that governments are highly prone to try to attack the symptom of inflation (rising prices) rather than the cause (money becoming less valuable). The usual tactics are price controls, wage controls, and various kinds of tax policies designed to punish wage and price increases (or reward companies that “hold the line” on prices and wages). These all harm the economy, because the price changes are just symptoms. All price ceilings do is produce shortages, because the market doesn’t stop functioning just because the government creates a rule.
The third big way that inflation harms the economy is that it creates uncertainty. The “positive” effects of inflation (increasing business activity) only come when inflation is higher than expected, so inflation rates tend to keep rising until they get so high that the negative effects become unbearable, at which point inflation gets ground out of the economy through a recession. Since no one knows just when that recession is coming or how bad it will be, people tend to be more cautious. The result is slower growth, less long-term thinking, and less long-term investment.
Governments (through the central bank) cause inflation, and governments can end it anytime they want, by ensuring that the money supply doesn’t grow faster than the economy. But, of course, it’s not that easy.
First, nobody knows how big either the money supply or the economy actually is, and the tools for controlling it are blunt instruments. There are statistics that give people a clue about how big each was as of a few months ago, but that’s only a partial indication and it’s already out of date. Back in the 1970s economists liked to use the analogy of driving a car while looking in the rear-view mirror by alternately stomping on the accelerator and then on the brake.
Second, if the money supply has already outstripped the growth in the economy (which it has, for many years now), then the effects will inevitably work their way through the economy, producing however much inflation is necessary to bring things back into balance, no matter what the central bank does now.
Still, all periods of higher inflation end. Some end with the inflation rate coming back down to the rate where it doesn’t do much harm to the economy (basically, to where it’s small enough that things like changes in relative prices and changes in standards of living are more important than inflation, and the inflation component just vanishes in the noise of the economy). Others end with hyperinflation making the money worthless, at which point it is replaced with something else.
Based on the experience of the current situation, I don’t think the hyperinflation scenario is likely. Once the central bank moves to stop inflation in a serious way you need to turn around the strategies you used for surviving it and instead prepare for a recession.

His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio has visited the Network for Children in Need Interim Care Centre, a caregiving home for orphans, neglected and abandoned children at Allen Town, east of Freetown.

During the visit, Proprietor of the Home, Madam Inna Maria Kamara, said she was thankful to the President for visiting the home, saying that that was an indication of the importance he placed on people who look after children, the sick, elderly, or disabled persons. She said the home had faced many challenges, particularly in providing proper housing for the kids and, therefore, called on the government to provide the necessary support needed to run the home.

Minister of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs, Madam Baindu Dassama, said vulnerable children were the victims of abuse and neglect. She said her ministry was working to provide psychosocial support for orphanages across the country. She commended the centre for their usual acceptance of orphans the ministry had sent to the home.

In his comment, President Bio expressed appreciation to the management of the home for their support to the kids and thanked the community for their support to the orphanage. He said it was a responsibility of the government to ensure that the kids get proper care. He said his presence at the home was an indication of his recognition and acknowledgment of the good work the home was doing to provide care for the vulnerable in society.

“Every child is important to this government. We are here to show you all that we love and value you. We want to let you know that we recognise what you do and we are ready to support you. We know the challenges you face but we want you all to know that there is a brighter future ahead of you. I encourage you all to focus on your studies as with education you can achieve your full potentials,” he said.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has on 4th April, 2019, indicted STEPHEN YAYAH MANSARAY, Master and Registrar of the High Court of Sierra Leone, and of No. 11 Belair Park, Freetown; ADELE FAYA, Account Clerk of the Judiciary of Sierra Leone, and of 118 Bai Bureh Road Grassfield, Freetown; ISATU ULAIKATU KIAMP KAMARA, Revenue Officer of the National Revenue Authority (NRA), and of 5 Stone Seat Drive Allen Town, Freetown; and ABUBAKARR BANGURA, Revenue Officer-NRA, and of 67 Freetown Road Lumley, Freetown, on TWO (2) COUNTS each, of Conspiracy to Commit a Corruption Offence contrary to Section 128(1), and Misappropriation of Public Revenue, contrary to Section 36 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Act No.12 of 2008.

According to the particulars of offence, STEPHEN YAYAH MANSARAY, ADELE FAYA, ISATU ULAIKATU KIAMP KAMARA, and ABUBAKARR BANGURA, between the 12th and 20th March 2019, at Freetown, misappropriated the sum of Sixty Million Leones (Le 60,000,000.00) being revenue due the National Revenue Authority as fines paid by Mr. Emmanuel Ekundayo Constant Shears-Moses in respect of sentence in the High Court of Sierra Leone.

The four (4) indicted persons are expected to make their first appearance at the High Court of Sierra Leone Holden in Freetown on 9th April, 2019.

The Commission wishes to reassure the public of its commitment to protecting government revenue at all times.

The Director-General of Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority, Moses Tiffa Baio believes that the growth of the Tourism industry as a key economic diversification drive in Sierra Leone largely depends on the improvement of Air transport connectivity.

He made this disclosure during an exclusive interview with Newday Magazine at his office in Freetown. He noted that Tourism and Aviation are interwoven meaning they are inextricably linked in the development of a nation. In establishing their interdependence, he said that Tourism depends on air transportation for accessibility, while air transport industry depends on tourism for revenue generation.

“There is a huge potential for the growth of the two industries in Sierra Leone. Aviation is always linked with tourism as each industry relies on the other for growth. If we can open the domestic operations to complement the international routes, it can help create the desired growth and a shining future for Aviation and Tourism industries,” he said.

Mr. Baio also mentioned that boosting the Tourism sector is part of President Bio’s development agenda, as he considers it a main revenue generation drive that will provide jobs for Sierra Leoneans, promote cultural heritage of the country and reduce the economic over-reliance on the mining sector.

“The importance of Aviation to tourism development cannot be overemphasized, as aviation has been a focal point to the tourism industry. I acknowledge that there are challenges in the Aviation industry currently, but with the commitment of key players we will overcome the odds. An improvement in Aviation, especially domestic air transportation will enhance tourism movements; thus, the revival of domestic air transport will help achieve the goal of tourism in the country,” he added.

He concluded by noting that accessibility is the key variable that triggers growth in tourism, for without it, excursions are impossible. He emphasized that all hands must be on deck to create a win-win situation for both the aviation and tourism industries, adding that a boom in the Aviation industry is a possible boom in Tourism industry.

The Parliament of Sierra Leone has on Thursday 04th April 2019 debated and committed the Bill entitled “The Anti-Corruption Amendment Act 2019” to its Legislative Committee for further scrutiny.

The Bill is seeking to amend the The Anti-Corruption Act of 2008 with a view to amend Sections dealing with assets declarations, soliciting and obtaining undue advantage and other related matters.

It was piloted in Parliament by the Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abdulai Bangurah who said among other things that the objects and reasons were to increase penalties, protection of witnesses and to provide the Commissioner alternatives to addressing offences related to graft.

In his submission, Acting Chairman of the Legislative Committee, Hon. Osman Timbo of APC appreciated the move to amend The Anti-Corruption Act of 2008 to fight against corruption. He also referred to it “as a serious fight”, before calling for its committal for further deliberations aimed at ironing some of the contending issues.

Hon. Hindolo M. Gevao of SLPP also commended the Government for taking the bold step to empower the ACC in the fight against corruption, adding that the Bill is seeking to address some of the lacunae in the parent Act.

Rounding the debate, the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Chernor R.M Bah referred to the fight against corruption as a “continuous process”, and commended the ACC Czar, Francis Ben Kaifala for acting on a document that had been left by the previous government to fight corruption. He also called on the Legislative Committee to speedily look at the Bill in its entirety and report to the House in due course for enactment into law.

Concluding the debate, the Leader of Government Business, Hon. Sidie M. Tunis commended the MPs for their valuable contributions, adding that “the essence of the Bill is to make corruption expensive and painful, and on implementation it will reduce corruption by 80-90 percent like in Rwanda”.

In another development, the Parliament of Sierra Leone has on Thursday 04th April 2019 debated and approved with some dissenting voices the Thirty-Second Report of its Committee on Appointments and the Public Service, chaired by the Leader of Government Business, Hon. Sidie M. Tunis.

The APC objected to the approval process on the grounds that the outgoing Commissioners were sacked against applicable provisions in the Human Rights Commission Act, that adequate compensation must be paid to the affected Commissioners, and the issue relating to conflict of interest.

Responding, the Leader of Government Business, Hon. Sidie M. Tunis said “that Section 61 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone authorises the President to constitute offices, makes appointments and terminates such appointments at will”.

The Presiding Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Segepoh Solomon Thomas has directed the Office of the Clerk of Parliament to write the Ministry of Finance to make the necessary payment to the Commissioners whose services had been terminated by the President.

The following presidential nominees were approved by Parliament:

1. Mrs. Patricia N. Ndanema-Chairman, Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone
2. Mr. Victor I. Lansana-Vice Chairman, Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone
3. Mr. Hassan S. Yarjah-Commissioner, Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone
4. Ms. Simitie Lavaly-Commissioner, Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone and
5. Dr. Gassan Abess-Commissioner, Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone

Zainab Sheriff C.E.O Zee Multimedia Zainab Sheriff has launched, The Zee Factor, a reality fashion and modelling competition. Zee Factor promises to be a reality show of drama, fashion, creativity and innovation. Sheriff says the show is a platform to promote local fashion.

The model say she will be using her skills, talents, experiences and exposure to make the program a success. Zainab Sheriff C.E.O Zee Multimedia Zee Factor will feature ten designers and 10 male and female models. The selection of the participants was done on an open and competitive manner.

Sheriff says her selection process was very inclusive as she was able to accommodate everyone regardless of their limitations. The show features a cross dresser and an albino model. Sierra Leone doesn’t often celebrate or include albinos in fashion and beauty. model’s and their designers At the launch of the show at Atlantic well known faces graced the red carpet.

China Nikki, winner of last year’s Big Sister was out in public for the first time in a long time. china Nickywinner of 2018 big sister reality TV show There will be 3 winners of the Zee Factor, each taking home 20 million Leones. Aminata Bangura, Miss World Sierra Leone will host the show. The public will be required to vote for their favourite participant. Sheriff has had quite the year.

There was the huge public fall over between herself Anthony Junior Navo, AYV, and Africell. Some might have thought, that that would have dampered her prospects but nothing seems to hold her down. Sheriff have moved on to new projects and remains focused on being a key part of Sierra Leone entertainment.

Zainab Sheriff is the owner of Zedzee Multimedia and modelling company. She is an actress, singer, model. She is listed amongst the 50 Most Influential young Sierra Leoneans. Last year she produced the wildly successful Big Sister Sierra Leone reality TV Show.

A year after taking office as Sierra Leone’s fifth president, Julius Maada Bio believes his government is changing the country’s negative image. A retired brigadier general, Bio was briefly the leader of a military junta that handed power to a civilian elected leader in 1996. He was elected with 51.81 percent of the vote in a runoff in 2018. During a visit to the United States last month, he addressed the Harvard Kennedy School, toured the MIT Media Lab and met with business executives convened by the Corporate Council on Africa. During an all Africa interview, he outlined his rebranding strategy and described why he is prioritizing human capital development.

INTERVIEW
A year after taking office as Sierra Leone’s fifth president, Julius Maada Bio believes his government is changing the country’s negative image. A retired brigadier general, Bio was briefly the leader of a military junta that handed power to a civilian elected leader in 1996. He was elected with 51.81 percent of the vote in a runoff in 2018. During a visit to the United States last month, he addressed the Harvard Kennedy School, toured the MIT Media Lab and met with business executives convened by the Corporate Council on Africa. During an allAfrica interview, he outlined his rebranding strategy and described why he is prioritizing human capital development. Excerpts:

Peacebuilding in a post-conflict nation
Quite a lot of people still think Sierra Leone is a country ravaged by war, devastated by Ebola and a lot of other calamities. It was extremely difficult to restore peace after too many years of civil war. But we are a resilient nation, so we are doing everything to consolidate that peace and democracy. We are changing the narrative.
Sierra Leone is a place where democracy has taken hold. As a post-conflict nation, peace and national cohesion are very important. We want to stitch the country together, irrespective of region, irrespective of ethnic group.
We have decided to establish a commission designed to make sure that the different ethnic groups that live in Sierra Leone consider themselves as Sierra Leoneans. We are doing this because whenever there’s politics, bad politicians play the ethnic card, and that has been a divisive factor. We want to change that and make sure that we are one country and one people Nothing should divide us. We should stay together as a nation to be able to prosper and have a shared future.
Rebuilding the economy
We are working to create the enabling environment for a vibrant economy. We are working to make sure that there is a thriving private sector.
I pledged to provide leadership that is inclusive, I have demonstrated that with the National Development Plan that we just launched. All parties were involved in preparing the plan. Every facet of our society was involved – nearly two million people were consulted. That is the sort of society we want. We can’t afford to be divided. For us to make progress, we have to be united in purpose in order to get to the end that we have decided on.

After so many years of mining diamonds, gold and so many natural resources for which we have nothing to show, we want to concentrate on human capital development.
Human capital meaning food security, health security and education. I ardently believe that if we take care of the human being [and] invest in education, we can produce a population that is useful in the 21st century.
Prioritizing human development
We want to make Sierra Leone the champion of human capital development. When we talk about human capital, we are talking about food security, health and education – investment in all of those area. Already we’ve scaled up our investment in agriculture and health and education.
We are devoting 21% of our national budget on free education so that our kids can be competitive and educated. The system we are working on is not education as we have known it in the past. It is education that is fit for purpose in the 21st century. The world is a village. We want to make the curriculum relevant to the modern world, to produce a workforce that relates to the digital economy that we want to develop.
For healthcare, we have to create a system that can really deliver. When Ebola arrived, we were caught by surprise. We didn’t have the systems in place. We didn’t have the medical personal trained enough so we lost a lot of them, since the Ebola epidemic. We’ve been working to structure our healthcare system in such a way that should there be any occurrence of that nature, we can deal with it. Our maternal mortality rate is definitely too high. Also for the kids. We are working to reduce those numbers.
Role of women and war on gender violence
Women have been deprived of their rightful position for a very long time. They have cultural restrictions that prevent them from being equal partners. We are working to make sure that women are involved as equal partners. We should not consign them to the kitchen.
Because of the spate of sexual violence that has been going on in the country, I had to declare a state of emergency because I needed to attract enough attention to that menace, which we cannot allow to happen in our country. We need action from government. Our society really needs to know that that is not the way to go. We are escalating the activities down to the village level so that people know it is not acceptable.
The role of regional integration
Markets are very important, and in west Africa and across Africa, we are talking about opening up the borders for free movement of not only goods but also people. There’s a lot of effort going on the continental level. We have established the fact that investment and the trade can help us grow our economies. Not every economy is ready but we have to start it and everybody will rise to the occasion.
For a long time, we have depended on mineral resources. What I have set as a goal is to diversify into agriculture, fisheries, tourism so that we don’t put our eggs in one basket. That was what happened when we suffered seriously when price of commodities dropped. We’ve not been able to recover because we depended on iron ore as the main source of revenue for the country. We also have revamped revenue collection and we’ve been able to make a 30 percent increase in the past 11 months.
A welcoming ecosystem for investment
The role of the private sector is very important, and we are creating the enabling environment, an ecosystem that is inviting to make sure that genuine investors can come to Sierra Leon and have a decent return. And we give them the freedom to repatriate their profits. We are ready for business and we want you to come.

Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio marked the first year anniversary of his presidency with a visit to an orphanage in the capital Freetown, setting off a debate about the performance of his administration since April 2018.Bio on Thursday visited the Network for Children in Need Orphanage at Allen Town, a community situated in the extreme end of the capital, Freetown.
He used the platform to commit his government to ensuring no Sierra Leonean is left behind in his quest for development.
“Every child is important to this government. We are here to show you all that we love and value you,” Bio said.
He added: “We want to let you know that we recognise what you do and we are ready to support you. We know the challenges you face but we want you all to know that there is a brighter future ahead of you. I encourage you all to focus on your studies as with education you can achieve your full potentials.”
As always, Sierra Leoneans have been divided about the performance of President Bio who campaigned on the platform of uprooting corruption and indiscipline in governance.
While he seems to be doing good in that, with the arrest and trial of many former
government officials accused of corruption, his critics say he has failed in handling the bread and butter issues of the country.
The cost of living has gone up, amidst a weakening local currency, the Leone, against the US Dollar.
On April 4, 2018, Bio became president just hours after he was declared winner of a bitterly contested presidential elections.
His campaign promises had hinged on returning sanity to officialdom by battling corruption, improving the economy and setting Sierra Leone down the road to prosperity.
However, reining graft has left him at odds with social activists who say the human rights record of his administration is nothing to wirte home.
One of the leading civil society organizations in the country, Campaign for Good Governance (CGG), issued a statement in commemoration of the one-year anniversary of Bio’s ascendancy, raising concerns about civil liberties inspite of its good work over the past 12 months.
As expected, his supporters are sprinting top his defense, saying whatever hardship Sierra Leoneans have been going through since April 2018 has been the effect of the bad governance system of Bio’s predecessor, Ernest Bai Koroma.
Among other issues, CGG urged the government to use ongoing anti-corruption crusade to institute institutional reforms. It frowned at the overreliance on Executive Orders in addressing genuine concerns like the rise in sexual violence, as well as the unequitable distribution of national resources.
“In a multiparty environment, concentrating resources in specific areas invariably disadvantages opposition party strongholds, building synergy with local councils for better service delivery is therefore of essence. We call on government to ensure a fairer distribution of state resources,” the organization said in its statement.

Sierra Leone’s Parliament has tabled a new bill seeking to amend the country’s anti-corruption laws.The Bill entitled: “The Anti-Corruption Amendment Act 2019”, seeks to amend the Anti-Corruption Act of 2008 and give the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) more powers to investigate and prosecute corrupt officials.
Specifically, the bill seeks to amend sections dealing with assets declarations, soliciting and obtaining undue advantage and other related matters, according to a statement from the Parliament.
The bill was on Thursday piloted in the House by the Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abdulai Bangurah, who was quoted saying that the objects and reasons were to increase penalties, protection of witnesses and to provide the commissioner alternatives to addressing offences related to graft.
The ACC, which drafted the amended bill, said it is also designed to pre-empt corrupt officials thereby preventing corruption.
MPs on Thursday debated the bill before committing it to the Legislative Committee for further scrutiny.
Mr Sidie Mohamed Tunis, ruling SLPP MP and Leader of Government Business in the House, said the amended bill seeks to reduce corruption by 90 percent.
“The essence of the Bill is to make corruption expensive and painful, and on implementation it will reduce corruption by 80-90 percent like in Rwanda,” he said.
Mr Osman Timbo, opposition APC MP, who is also Acting Chairman of the Legislative Committee, praised the move but said it required further deliberations to iron out some of the issues proving contentious for the opposition.
The Legislative Committee is expected to thoroughly scrutinize the bill and then report on its findings to the House with recommendations of whether or not to approve it with or without changes.
Sierra Leone is ranked among the world’s most corrupt countries, according to the annual Transparency International Corruption Perception Index.
Corruption is thought to have contributed to the 1991-2002 civil war.
Therefore, the country started seriously fighting corruption following the end of the war, with the enactment of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act of 2000, under the late former President Ahmad Tejan Kabba.
The 2000 Act superseded the 1960 Prevention of Corruption Act, which was thought to be less effective in fighting graft.

Members of a secret society in Sierra Leone went on a rampage in the southeast of the country to protest a new ban on initiation rites prompted by deadly unrest, police said on Thursday.
Vowing to defy the ban, the assailants attacked the village of Liema, near the third city of Kenema, on Wednesday, storming the police station and freeing detainees, said police spokesperson Brima Kamara.
“They targeted peaceful citizens in Liema village chanting Poro songs and forcing the inhabitants to hide,” Kamara said, adding that they looted homes.
Poro societies – widespread in Sierra Leone and other West African countries – carry out initiation rites for boys involving ritual scarring during retreats in “sacred woods” that can last for several months.
The ban followed clashes on Monday near a site occupied by agricultural giant Socfin, which residents accused of trying to occupy land they say belongs to a local secret society.
Sierra Leone police said they had opened an investigation into two deaths during the clashes, which also left one of their officers injured.
In a separate incident, a secret society kidnapped nine people as they travelled to work for mining firm Sierra Rutile in Moriba, in the southwest of the country.
“We will go ahead with our secret society initiations because it‘s our tradition,” a member of the Poro society told AFP by telephone from Kenema, requesting anonymity.
More than 90% of Sierra Leoneans are thought to undergo such rites of passage.
Girls undergo a Bondo ritual, which follows a similar pattern but also involves female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice banned in many countries and condemned as potentially lethal by the World Health Organisation.
Sierra Leone has one of the highest rates of FGM in the world.