Liberia: Senate approves $623M budget 2 months late

By Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh

MONROVIA, Liberia

Months late and behind closed doors, Liberia’s Senate late Thursday passed a national budget for 2016-2017, with educational, health and social spending getting a huge chunk of the $623 million plan.

The country’s fiscal year runs from July to June, so the late September budget passage came more than two months late.

The budget finally being passed with the Senate concurring with the House of Representatives was delayed due to a corruption standoff at the national legislature involving the House speaker, Alex Tyler, who recused himself from his duties earlier this month.

The standoff brought normal legislative functions to a standstill, hindering passage of the national budget and several pieces of legislation that were in committee pending consideration.

Under the budget, a total of $83 million is being allotted to the country’s broken educational system, and $77 million has been allocated to revamping the country’s health system, devastated by the Ebola virus, while $10.5 million is being allotted to social development spending.