Koffa Proposes $25 Million Safety Net as Liberia's Economy Slows and Prices Climb
- Michael T
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
MONROVIA — Former House Speaker J. Fonati Koffa plans to push for a $25 million emergency fund to help Liberians pay school fees and rent, pointing to what he calls widening economic pain that official growth numbers fail to capture.
The Grand Kru lawmaker, now on the opposition benches after a bitter legislative standoff that paralyzed the House of Representatives for months, announced Tuesday he would present a letter Thursday calling for creation of a Social Safety Net Fund aimed at "vulnerable people" hit by inflation and stagnant wages.
"When the town is hard, the government must intervene," Koffa wrote on Facebook, invoking U.S.-style food stamps as precedent. "Our people are restless and crying for relief. The town is hard, and we must act now".
His pitch comes as Liberia confronts a troubling divergence: GDP projections show expansion, but household budgets are buckling under prices that have climbed 16% since January 2024. The International Monetary Fund recently cut its 2025 growth forecast to 4.6% from 5.6%—a near one-fifth reduction driven by what the Fund described as persistent inflation, weak competitiveness, and governance failures.
Real growth last year was just 4%, and inflation hit 10.7% in 2025, up from 8.2% the year before. Rice, transport, fuel—the staples that define survival for most Liberians—have all surged.
Koffa's proposal is short on detail but long on political symbolism. He wants to fund the $25 million by cutting lawmakers' benefits, trimming foreign travel, halting vehicle purchases, redirecting resources from state companies like the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company, and borrowing from the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation.
The broader question is whether $25 million makes a dent. Liberia's population exceeds 5 million. Even targeted at the most vulnerable—say, 500,000 households—the fund would provide $50 per family, enough for a few bags of rice or one term's fees at a basic school. It's relief, but not transformation.
Still, the politics matter. Koffa is betting that perception of hardship now outweighs talk of growth later. The IMF expects stronger performance in 2026, with mining and agriculture recovering. But Liberians vote and riot based on today's prices, not tomorrow's projections. And when a former speaker says the town is hard, it's not just economics—it's a signal that the government's grace period is over.
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