Liberia Flunks the Transparency Test in U.S. 2024 Fiscal Report

Liberian Finance Minister Augustine Ngafuan

Monrovia, August 15, 2025 — In its 2024 Fiscal Transparency Report, the U.S. Department of State reveals significant deficiencies in Liberia’s fiscal transparency framework. Despite the formal publication of budgets and official statements, government practices consistently undermine fiscal integrity at nearly every critical stage.

At the core of the critique is Liberia’s entrenched use of off-budget accounts—secret channels for public funds kept deliberately shielded from audits and parliamentary oversight. These hidden reserves are open doors for corruption, patronage, and the diversion of critical resources away from the public good. As long as these accounts persist, any notion of genuine fiscal transparency is pure fiction.

Compounding the problem, the government’s refusal to publish the finances of state-owned enterprises stands out as another glaring failure. These entities, which handle vital infrastructure and services, are run as private fiefdoms rather than as public assets. Their financial secrecy prevents meaningful public scrutiny, heightening the risks of mismanagement, conflicts of interest, and unchecked spending.

Oversight institutions, supposedly in place to hold the government accountable, are persistently undercut by political interference. The General Auditing Commission, while technically empowered, lacks true independence—a watchdog kept on a government leash. The result is that oversight becomes little more charade, offering the public scant recourse when irregularities inevitably arise.

Budgetary secrecy runs deep. Liberia’s leaders have repeatedly failed to release full budget documents on time, and crucial information regarding the nation’s debt remains hidden. This consistent lack of transparency keeps citizens, civic groups, and even international partners in the dark, further eroding confidence in the government’s willingness and capacity to manage public funds honestly.

Nowhere are these issues more evident than in the resource sector. The government’s handling of natural resources is riddled with inconsistencies, with relevant laws enforced only when politically convenient. Resource contracts remain shrouded in mystery, fueling both domestic suspicion and skepticism among international observers. Old patterns of favoritism and clandestine dealmaking remain stubbornly entrenched.

The 2024 State Department report makes it clear that Liberia’s march toward transparency is stalled by conscious government choices. Unless the national leadership abandons this persistent culture of concealment—bringing all spending into the open, publishing the finances of state enterprises, and granting real independence to oversight institutions—the risks of corruption and public distrust will only intensify. At stake is not just Liberia’s eligibility for vital aid and investment, but the very credibility of its democracy.state+2

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Additional Sources

1. https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-fiscal-transparency-report/liberia/

2. https://smartnewsliberia.com/liberias-fiscal-transparency-faces-scrutiny-in-u-s-state-departments-2024-report/

3. https://allafrica.com/stories/202412110646.html

4. https://allafrica.com/stories/202502280254.html

5. https://bti-project.org/en/reports/country-report/LBR

6. https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-fiscal-transparency-report

7. https://www.state.gov/fiscal-transparency-report

8. https://2021-2025.state.gov/department-of-state-releases-2024-fiscal-transparency-report/

9. https://www.elibrary.imf.org/downloadpdf/view/journals/002/2025/044/002.2025.issue-044-en.pdf

10. https://www.taxobservatory.eu/www-site/uploads/2023/10/global_tax_evasion_report_24.pdf