Monrovia — Finance and Development Planning Minister-designate Augustine Ngafuan has vowed to take robust and sustained actions leading toward sound fiscal management to prevent waste, corruption and fraud for the benefit of Liberia and its citizens.
Ngafuan was recently appointed by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai and forwarded to the Liberian Senate for confirmation.
He described his preference by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai as an "old soldier back to the battle front," but promised to pursue effective resource allocation.
Speaking when he appeared for confirmation before the Senate Committee on Ways, Means, Finance and Budget on Thursday, Ngafuan stressed that though the challenges and expectations of the Liberian people remain huge, he does not hold a magical wi nd to change the current situations now, but he would take some quick actions "to make things better."
"We are also cognizant of the fact that some of the challenges we will confront are complex and addressing them will require time and a multi-stakeholders' exercise. We need to ensure that the resources we raise through domestic sources, grants and loans are directed to our nation's priorities as identified in our development agenda."
To achieve this, he disclosed that a credible national development agenda that would be supported by the national budget must be crafted, adding that, "we must work our talk and ensure that the budget for fiscal 2025 which begins in January is aligned with the new development agenda."
He said huge revenue for development will be generated under his stewardship at the ministry.
Ngafuan emphasized that the development challenges of Liberia remain enormous and to address it, significant efforts must be generated to raise more resources for development.
He maintained that doing so would require strategies and interventions including taking more robust and sustained actions to address constraints to economic growth, especially unlocking the potential of the energy sector and connecting Liberia with paved roads.
He noted that scores of actions must be taken to improve the power generation capacity of Liberia to increase access to electricity in both the rainy and dry seasons.
He said the efficiency of the private sector should be leveraged in the distribution of power distribution and the efficiency and productivity of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) improved also.
Ngafuan maintained that the country's resources must be dedicated towards connecting all counties to paved roads and maintaining existing farm-to-market roads and constructing additional ones.
He said concerted, robust and timely actions would also be taken to address constraints to growth to improve the profitability of businesses, leading to the expansion of the private sector to create jobs for more Liberians and improve domestic revenue generation.
He vowed to support the newly launched Liberians Feed Yourselves Agenda and the National Agriculture Development Plan of 2024-2030 to guarantee national food self-sufficiency and indigenous wealth creation through agricultural value chain development contribution of over a billion dollars to the country's economy and providing jobs for citizens.
Ngafuan stressed that the agriculture sector can be a major contributor to economic growth and revenue generation if it is provided the requisite support to enable it fulfill its true potential.
Improving revenue
He said revenue generated from key sectors of the country's economy, including mining will also be improved.
He recalled that the mining sector remains one of the key sources of growth in the Liberian economy in 2023, but according to a World Bank report, royalties paid from the sector were as low as 38%.
Ngafuan pointed out that such a contradiction points to the need for the Ministries of Finance and Development Planning, Mines and Energy, Liberia Revenue Authority and other relevant agencies to take a review of key revenue generating sectors to clearly understand their potentials and challenges hindering their revenue generation capacities to take the appropriate actions.
Ngafuan said the LRA and others must be adequately supported to raise more revenues for the government.
"We will support the LRA"s intention to fully leverage technology as a way to close revenue leakages to significantly increase government's revenue. We shall push all revenue generating agencies to the full extent of their potentials."
Supporting Liberian businesses
He added that protecting and supporting value addition and made in Liberia initiatives through the granting of appropriate incentives would also be prioritized to help increase revenues and create more jobs.
He also promised to work with the National Port Authority (NPA) Ministry of Commerce and Industry and other agencies and commissions to make it easier to register and do business in Liberia.
This, Ngafuan said, may require improving or re-engineering business processes to reduce the "turn-around time" for business processing across government as a whole.
He said the development diplomacy agenda of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would also be worked with in anticipation of multilateral and bilateral supports in skills to attain the new development plan.
Realistic budgeting
He stated that the credibility and efficiency of the budget process would be his top priority.
Ngafuan said a realistic budgeting forecast would be introduced under his watch through numerous measures.
"We shall heavily support the capacity of the MFDP and other relevant government ministries, agencies and commissions to develop more realistic revenue forecasts especially in the extractive and other complex sectors."
He stressed that a realistic revenue forecast would significantly contribute to the credibility of the national budget by avoiding frequent recast and slashing of appropriations due to budget shortfalls.
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"Bigger budget is good; but what is better is aiming for a bigger and realistic budget."
Ngafuan emphasized that the efficiency, productivity, and accountability of the national budget execution process would be improved under his stewardship.
No more red tape
He said "red tape" will be reduced for the time it takes to process allotments and get payments through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
"We shall develop approach timelines for business processes at the ministry which will be rigorously monitored to ensure adherence. As tough as it may seem, my role is to lead a ministry where documents or vouchers will move through the systems without being pushed."
Ngafuan noted that shortening transaction processing time has a positive multiplying effect on the economy.
He justified that it creates predictability and certainty that the government will make payments of budgetary appropriations and allotments within a reasonable time, reducing the premiums the private sector has on the cost of goods and services being procured by the government.
"When government ministries, agencies and commissions legitimately procure goods, services and capital items, the Ministry of Finance should make prompt payments to vendors and contractors."
Ngafuan, however, promised to sustain and improve on the timely payment of civil servants and other government employees across the country
