Monrovia — A World Bank Delegation has paid a courtesy call on the Director General of the Bureau of State Enterprises, Hon. Arthur S. Massaquoi at his Capital Bye Pass office in Monrovia.
The discussion with the World Bank delegation centred on building a sustainable and vibrant State-owned Enterprise sector in an ardent effort to curbing leakages and financial risk.
In welcoming the delegation, Hon. Massaquoi highlighted challenges and gains made by his administration and stressed the need to foster mutual collaboration with the World Bank and other partners.
As part of the discussion, the World Bank Financial Specialist, Mr. Macdonald Nyavigo unveiled and presented a draft policy document under the caption " Liberia: IMPROVING GOVERNANCE OF STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES AND REDUCING THE FISCAL RISKS". Mr. Macdonald Nyavigo in his presentation underscored the need for the Liberian Government to place more emphasis in exerting oversight over SOEs in Liberia.
The World Bank representative indicated in his presentation that the draft policy document was informed as a result of a field assessment of eighteen (18) SOEs out of forty six (46) carried out by the World Bank in 2023.
According to the World Bank financial specialist, the assessment covered fiscal years, 2020, 2021 and 2022. The assessment findings showed a progressive down ward trend in SOEs income generating capacity. He indicated that the assessment findings is a bad sign for corporate governance in Liberia and as such, the Bureau of State Enterprises should muster the courage to exert full over sight of the sector in order to curb financial risks and leakages. Other issues discussed include; financial accountability, control and transparency as well as legal and regulatory framework for SOE governance.
The World bank representative shared copies of the draft policy document with the Bureau for review and lamented that following the review and conclusion of the policy document, the world Bank will sponsor a one day working session with all stake holders in the sector with representatives from the IMF, African Development Bank, the Ministry of Finance, Executive Branch as well as the Liberian Parliament.
Hon. Massaquoi in his closing remark following the meeting thanked the delegation for the visit and reassured the Bureau's commitment to working with the World Bank and other International partners.
