Repuplic of Liberia From Growth to Development : Priorities for Sustainably Reducing Poverty and Achieving Middle-Income Status by 2030
Liberia’s status as a fragile state is deeply rooted in the political and economic exclusion practiced by the country’s founders. Although they constituted just 5 percent of the population, freed American slaves and their descendants dominated the...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/585371528125859387/Liberia-From-growth-to-development-priorities-for-sustainably-reducing-poverty-and-achieving-middle-income-status-by-2030 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29880 |
| Summary: | Liberia’s status as a fragile state is
deeply rooted in the political and economic exclusion
practiced by the country’s founders. Although they
constituted just 5 percent of the population, freed American
slaves and their descendants dominated the country’s
intellectual and ruling class from 1847 to 1990. While
Liberia’s sixteen indigenous ethnic groups4 comprise over 90
percent of the population, the country’s political system
was created to protect the small minority of settlers rather
than to promote inclusive development or advance the public
interest. Property rights were extremely limited, and
administrative power was both centralized in Monrovia and
concentrated in the executive branch. Political
accountability was minimal, the country’s resources were
exclusively controlled by its political and economic elite,
and infrastructure and basic social services were largely
unavailable outside of a few major cities. This unbalanced
development pattern gave rise to vast disparities in power
and wealth between rural and urban areas. Wealth inequality
exacerbated ethnic and class rivalries, leading to a coup
d’état in 1980 followed by two devastating civil wars. These
conflicts claimed over 300,000 lives and caused the complete
collapse of both the state and the economy, derailing
Liberia’s development and compounding its already severe
institutional and governance challenges.In 2012, the
government of Liberia published its national strategic
vision, Liberia Rising 2030. This plan is designed to enable
Liberia to achieve middle-income country (MIC) status1 by
2030 through peaceful and inclusive politics, stable
institutions, economic diversification, and accelerated
human capital formation. The Agenda for Transformation, a
medium-term development plan for 2013–17, attempted to
advance the government’s vision by focusing on Liberia’s
primary development challenges of consolidating peace and
security, developing the manufacturing and service sectors,
investing in human capital, improving the quality of
governance, and strengthening public institutions. In line
with the government’s objectives, this Systematic Country
Diagnostic (SCD) explores the various challenges facing
Liberia as it strives to achieve MIC status by 2030. |
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