IMF discusses lifting Liberia's suspended membership

A 14-member team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrived in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, to begin consultations with the new government on economic reforms, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday. The team, the first to visit the war-torn country since it was suspended from the IMF in March, would discuss the possibility of lifting the suspension, officials said. "It is anticipated that the outcome of the mission's visit would subsequently lead to restoring Liberia's rights at the IMF, engendering the flow of financial resources to the country for national reconstruction and development," the Finance Ministry said in a statement. The statement blamed "past regimes for lack of cooperation with multinational financial institutions and external creditors". This, it added, made it difficult for Liberia to access resources from the international financial market for development programs. The IMF suspended Liberia in March, saying the country had failed to strengthen its cooperation with the fund in the areas of policy implementation and payments. At the time of its suspension, Liberia was indebted to the fund by US $685 million. The Finance ministry statement added: "The transitional government intends to reverse trends by fully cooperating with the multinational financial institutions, external creditors and the donor community." The current government, it added, hoped to achieve benchmarks and implement measures to improve policy performance through the preparation of short and medium term economic reform and reconstruction strategies. An official in the Finance Ministry told IRIN that the IMF was at the time also unhappy with former president Charles Taylor for failing to abolish monopolies on the importation of essential goods like rice and petroleum products. Until October when the head of the new transitional government, Gyude Bryant, liberalised the markets, a handful of Lebanese businessmen who were close to Taylor enjoyed the monopoly of importing essential goods. The official added that Taylor's government was notorious for "poor fiscal performance" and was unwilling to open its books to the IMF. Taylor was forced to resign under international pressure and a steady rebel advance on the capital in August. He left for exile in Nigeria on 11 August, paving way for a two-year transitional government that took office on 14 October. The IMF team was due to meet officials from the Central Bank of Liberia, the Forestry development Authority, the Ministry of Commerce and the Budget Bureau. They would also meet officials in the Economic Affairs, Lands & Mines and Agriculture ministries, the General Services Agency, Bureau of Maritime Affairs and the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company.