The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has launched a five-year (2025-2029) Strategic Plan (SP) focusing on five calculated pillars.
The pillars included price stability, regional integration, operational efficiency, financial stability and inclusion, and digital financial services, which are premised on the core mandates of the bank.
The exercise, is an effort to ensure that the country remains financially stable in a digital and technology age.
Accordingly, the theme for the Plan: “Optimal Use of Technology for Macroeconomic Stability and Inclusive Economic Growth,” was carefully adopted to reflect and represent the vision of the executive management team, and the board of governors, ensuring its alignment with the institution’s overarching goals and objectives.
This Plan (2025-2029) marks the third formal Strategic Plan, since the CBL became operational in 2000.
At the launch of the program on Tuesday, May 13, 2025 in Monrovia, CBL Executive Governor, Henry F. Saamoi, said the SP is developed along three cardinal and principal objectives enshrined in the entity’s Act.
The Act called for promoting and maintaining price stability, contributing to financial stability, as well as supporting the economic policy of government within the confines of its mandate.
Saamoi told the gathering that the SP is aligned with the government’s national development plan (2025-2029), the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development (AAID); Liberia’s new IMF Credit Facility (ECF) Program, the ECOWAS Monetary Integration Program and other international principals such as the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development (the Adidas Ababa Action Agenda, July 15, 2015) and the United Nations principals of Responsible Banking.
The plan seeks to support the AAID, which is based on six pillars: economic transformation, infrastructure development, rule of law, governance and anticorruption, environmental sustainability, and six human capacity development, thus representing the key economic and development policies of the government.
Mr. Saamoi said, to ensure the effective implementation of the new SP, the bank intends to put in place robust monitoring and evaluation framework that would align the budget with the SP to ensure its successful implementation.
“In developing the plan, the CBL engaged various stakeholders with the primary objective to ensure that the plan captures the public and stakeholders’ expectations and understanding of the bank’s role in the management of the Liberian economy,” Mr. Saamoi said.
With a fast changing and transforming financial system driven by digitalization and technology, the role of the CBL as the APEX financial institution has become more critical and challenging.
“However, with increasing trend in electronic money and Central Bank Digital Currency, globally, the CBL will meet both Lonestar MTN and Orange Liberia to brainstorm on the new measures that are expected for implementation in this plan by responding adequately to many of the evolving issues,” Mr. Saamoi remarked.
The total cost for the SP full implementation is estimated at US$63,32 million. It contains a total of 55 critical initiatives, which include projects and programs to be achieved over the five-year period.
“In year one, 16 of the projects and programs are expected to be achieved; in the year two, 17 are to be completed with the remaining 22 to be completed over the period, 2927-2029.”
Considering budget targets under the new IMF/ECF Program, the bank will adopt strategies to leverage potential donor support and deepen collaboration with the government for financing of activities and projects in support of the AAID.
Mr. Saamoi added: “To be assured of this realization, the bank will set up a team to monitor the implementation of the plan, with a quarterly assessment report published on the CBL’s website and other media pages for public accountability and transparency.
The Strategic Plan is being launched at a critical moment as Liberia has recently signed a new four-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) program with the IMF.
“The Strategic Plan committee’s reach out to marketeers, the rural population and village savings and loans associations (VSLA), the credit unions and others, thereby demonstrating our commitment to work with everyone in support of the government’s ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development.”
“As we embark on the implementation of this new Strategic Plan, it is essential to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of the CBL towards the achievement of macroeconomic stability, financial stability, financial inclusion and financial digitization in recent years,” Saamoi said.
CBL Development Finance Department Director, Jay Gbelh-bo Brown, II, said the bank’s Plan for implementation over the next five years (2025-2029), is a comprehensive blueprint outlining the bank’s key priorities, initiatives and objectives.
Brown said in order to facilitate an in-depth understanding and enable stakeholders to navigate the document, its introductory section provides a systematic overview of how the it is structured.
“In the foreword, there is reflection on the context and rationale behind the new strategic direction, highlighting the commitment of the CBL’s leadership to fostering macroeconomic and financial sector stability in the country. It sets the tone for the bank’s overarching goals and its alignment with national and global financial trends,” he said.
Each section in the plan is built on the other, thus creating a logical and structure flow that aligns with the bank’s vision for delivering value to its stakeholders, while promoting economic stability and supporting growth in line with the government’s ARREST Agenda.
“This approach ensures that the document is not only informative, but also actionable, providing a clear roadmap over the next five years,” he said.
Representatives from the United States Embassy, European Union (EU), African Development Bank, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) were all present at the launching ceremony.
They commended the CBL for undertaking such initiative, while expressing their various government’s and organizations willingness to its full implementation.
Macpherson C. Marbiah writes/0777250370-0886442881