By Ralph Sesay
Close sources from the new administration have disclosed to this medium that for the first time in two years their three weeks old administration would pay civil servants’ salaries for April without recourse to bank overdrafts.
While addressing a high level meeting between Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and officials of the International Monetary Fund, earlier this week, President Bio told the meeting that “Before now, Government cannot pay monthly salaries without borrowing or heavily relying on overdraft facility at the Bank of Sierra Leone. In fact, such overdrafts now stand at 160 billion Leones.”
Rtd. Brigadier Bio also intimated the meeting that, as a demonstration of his Government’s commitments to cut down on leakages and restore sanity to the economic environment, he has initially taken revenue measures such as suspending all duty waivers except those covered under the Vienna Convention.
“I have also directed all ministries, departments and agencies that collect and retain government revenues to transfer all revenues into the Consolidated Revenue Fund … For the first time, in two years, Government will pay salaries of 150 billion Leones, including payment of NASSIT contributions, without recourse to domestic borrowing,” the President disclosed to the IMF delegation.
It could be recalled that President Bio had campaigned on Free Education as his flagship project, with promises to block the several leakages inherent in the country’s economy to take care of its initial funding. With barely few weeks into Government, sources, very close to State House, have revealed that his government has raised this month’s salaries without interfering into the state owned banks.
The APC has not been able to pay salaries without drafts from the state owned banks even when they have been hugely embroiled in several scandals including the Ebola, Mudslide and Hajj gate.
The economy has been hugely challenged under the APC regime, creating a very negative impact for private sector development. Non-performing debts, accrued from the country banks by APC operatives, coupled with low levels of economic growth, high incidences of poverty and lack of economic diversification, coupled with high external and domestic debt, continue to expose the deficiencies of the APC regime and pose huge challenges for the Bio administration and international partners.