The Minister of Finance Mr Jacob Jusu Saffa has regarded the recent visit by the First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Mr. David Lipton as a manifestation that Sierra Leone is on track on its economic transformation trajectory programme with the Fund.
He made this statement on Monday 27th January 2020 during a Cocktail hosted by the Vice President Dr Juldeh Jalloh with the IMF First Deputy Managing Director and team.
“There are over 50 countries in Africa and to decide on which country to visit always arise big debates in the IMF. So for a country to be selected could mean two things; one, you are doing very well, or two, you are on track and they want you to stay on track,” he said.
According to him, his impression is that Sierra Leone is on track, and assured the IMF that Sierra Leone will continue to stay on track.
He said government is not staying on track because they want money from IMF, but they are staying on track because it is the right thing to do and it is part of the government agenda according the New Direction Manifesto.
Highlighting the challenges they are facing as a government, he said 30-35 percent of government revenues are used to settle government debt or arias, noting that the depth of the problems they inherited is enormous “But we can’t keep using that all the time, which is why we were elected”.