-To Avoid The Predicted Budget Shortfall
By Jackson C. Clay, Jr.
Those in the employ of government risk losing their jobs in a scheme which is being worked on to avoid a budget shortfall, , Finance and Development Planning Minister, Samuel Tweah has said.
Finance & Development Planning Minister, Samuel Tweah
According to Minister Tweah, the government is about to reduce half of its employees; a statement that runs contrary to the plans and promises his boss, President George Weah.
As candidate, the president promised to provide jobs for the unemployed and increase the salaries of civil servants.
At the Ministry of Information Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT) regular press briefing last week, Minister Tweah said in order to avoid a budget shortfall, as he predicted, in the fiscal year 2018/2019 draft national budget, the government would have to reduce its workforce by half.
“To not have a budget shortfall means we will probably have to short half of the government down by lying off half of its employees,” Minister Tweh said.
Minister Tweah said the government would have to take some radical steps, like people sitting home and working to avoid transportation and the use of stationeries so as to avoid a budget shortfall.
The Finance Minister stated that the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) led administration inherited a very difficult situation in terms of the standing of the economy.
Minister Tweah indicated that Liberia’s economy was hugely affected by the outbreak of the 2014 Ebola virus and the global economy downturn of some major commodities, like rubber, iron ore and others.
CDC, when in the opposition, criticized the then ruling Unity Party for what they called the continuous budget shortfalls on the part of the ruling party.
Now, with the preparation of their first national budget as a government, they are likely to experience the most talked about budget shortfall that they once criticized in the past.
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