[{"bbox": [87, 152, 506, 183], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 1.3 Zone benefitting from the Action"}, {"bbox": [85, 199, 914, 226], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action shall be carried out in Liberia, which is included in the list of ODA recipients."}, {"bbox": [85, 254, 323, 287], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# 2 RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [85, 317, 235, 345], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.1 Context"}, {"bbox": [96, 373, 1165, 770], "category": "Text", "text": "Liberia is a least developed country with a population of 5.36 million in 2022, witnessing an increase of nearly 50% in the last 15 years. More than half of the population lives in urban areas, with approximately one third living within a radius of 80 kilometres from Monrovia. The civil wars (1989-2003) led to a massive destruction of infrastructures and huge economic and social damages. The cost of addressing the Ebola epidemic (2014-2015) coincided with a decrease in the economic activity, thus reducing Government's revenue. Higher donor support significantly offset the loss. Economic growth suffered from macroeconomic instability and then from the COVID-19 pandemic. Growth rebounded to 5% in 2021. Despite external factors (e.g. the impact of Russia's aggression in Ukraine), growth should reach 5-6% in the medium term if Liberia taps its potential through persistent and adequate structural reforms and prudent macroeconomic policies. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the sixth review of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) with Liberia in July 2023. This review was never finalised due to lack of data and the busy electoral period. The current ECF ended in December 2023 without obtaining the expected results, the final disbursement was not made, and the programme was not extended by 6 months as it was initially foreseen. In line with both IMF and ECOWAS² benchmarks, Liberia is at moderate risk of external debt and at high risk of overall distress with limited space to accommodate shocks. The stock of public debt rose to 51.3% of the GDP at the end of 2022³."}, {"bbox": [96, 783, 1165, 997], "category": "Text", "text": "Despite some economic growth, the reconstruction is slow and difficult in Liberia. With low human development indicators, 51% of the population lives below the poverty line and 80% of Liberian citizens hold informal employment. Expensive and unreliable electricity supply, poor road infrastructure, erratic connectivity, especially in the rural areas, and serious governance challenges constrain investment and economic development. Liberia ranks 175 out of 189 countries on the UNDP's Human Development Index of 2022. The latest Gini coefficient in 2016 was 35.3. Poverty is largely higher in rural zones and affects specially the youth and the elderly⁴. Liberia has a very low level of financial inclusion and literacy and huge gender gaps and socioeconomic disparities. Overall, women lack opportunities and participation in management and decision-making positions at all levels in society⁵."}, {"bbox": [96, 1008, 1165, 1169], "category": "Text", "text": "Liberia has limited resilience and adaptive capacity to combat the effects of climate change. It is a high-risk country in terms of disasters (i.e. economic, epidemic disease outbreaks, environmental, social). Liberia's revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) 2021 echoes the Government's leadership in addressing climate change. It aims at reducing GHG emissions by 15% by 2030 with the long-term goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. Within Liberia's NDC framework, specific attention is given to nine sectors, notably agriculture, forest, and fisheries, highlighting the significance of these areas in the country's climate mitigation and adaptation strategies."}, {"bbox": [96, 1178, 1165, 1336], "category": "Text", "text": "Liberia has adopted a concessions-based approach⁶ to development, where exports are driven mainly by a limited number of large foreign firms. While this regime plays a role in the fiscal and socioeconomic advancement of Liberia, its impact on the broader economy is limited. Liberia exports mainly iron ore, gold, and natural rubber. According to figures of 2022, the top trading partners for Liberia in terms of imports were Ivory Coast, India, China and the EU whereas in exports, Switzerland, the EU and the USA. Overall, the top trading partners were Ivory Coast, the EU, and China⁷."}, {"bbox": [85, 1452, 587, 1477], "category": "Footnote", "text": "² ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID)."}, {"bbox": [85, 1477, 481, 1502], "category": "Footnote", "text": "³ Central Bank of Liberia, Annual Report 2022."}, {"bbox": [85, 1501, 501, 1525], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁴ https://pip.worldbank.org/country-profiles/LBR."}, {"bbox": [85, 1525, 532, 1550], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁵ Country Level Implementation Plan (CLIP) Liberia."}, {"bbox": [85, 1550, 1172, 1622], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁶ Concession means the grant of an interest in public assets by the Government of Liberia or one of its agencies to a private sector entity for a specified period of time during which the asset may be operated, managed, utilised or improved. The private sector entity pays fees or royalties to the Government during the specified period of time."}, {"bbox": [85, 1622, 788, 1646], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁷ https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/isdb_results/factsheets/country/details_liberia_en.pdf."}, {"bbox": [1035, 1680, 1143, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 4 of 25"}]