Government policy priorities for 2023

(1) Enhancing local food production and promoting food imports to address food insecurity, especially among the socially vulnerable groups. According to the estimation by the World Food Program (WFP), as of April this year, 1.1 million people in Sierra Leone were facing severe hunger and 2 million people were facing chronic hunger. The government's most urgent food security goals are to meet the immediate food security needs of the most vulnerable groups, prevent the deterioration of children's nutritional status, promote local production of diverse food products, and invest in improving agricultural productivity in the medium to long term. Therefore, in 2023, the government will: deepen the transformation of agricultural policies, continue to provide farmers with agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and mechanized services through the electronic voucher system to promote food production; invest in improving animal husbandry to increase food protein content; continuing to improve the management of fisheries and marine resources through compliance with “closed seasons” and continued efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, among others.

2. Continue to invest in education and health to improve the work force

Continuing support for the Free Quality School Education (FQSE) program, expanding school feeding programs to students in food-insecure chiefdoms, adding more assistive devices for children with special needs, and providing school buses; enhancing higher education, technical and vocational quality in education; improving healthcare, maintaining the capability of disease monitoring and epidemic response.

(3) Expand social security system to enable vulnerable groups to survive tough economic conditions

Expanding coverage of government cash support for the most socially vulnerable groups from 30,000 to 100,000 extremely poor households, which account for 14% of the poor, to mitigate the impact of the crisis on socially vulnerable groups.

(4) Adaptation and mitigation measures to address climate change risks

Reforestation and protection of existing forests, restoration of degraded land, mangroves and wetlands, investment in renewable clean energy such as solar, hydro and natural gas to generate electricity, etc.

(5) Promote the development of private enterprises to create more employment opportunities

Improve business environment, infrastructure, energy supply, road network, digital connectivity, and expand water access. The government will continue to prioritize spending on infrastructure such as clean energy, water, roads and ICT to reduce operating costs and enhance economic competitiveness.

(6) Control inflation and stabilize the exchange rate to reduce the cost of living

The Bank of Sierra Leone will continue to monitor inflation trends and adjust monetary policy rates accordingly to control inflation. While continuing to maintain a flexible exchange rate regime, the Bank of Sierra Leone will continue to adjust its exchange rate policy to stabilize the value of the Leone currency, including intervening in the foreign exchange market to counteract exchange rate fluctuations. The government will lift the ban on mining exploration to attract foreign direct investment inflows and generate foreign exchange.

Debt payments, including amortization, account for 37% of domestic revenue and 20% of total expenditure through June 2022. To ensure debt sustainability, the government will: continue to seek grant financing or borrow on concessional loans to finance investment in key sectors of the economy, particularly infrastructure; continue to explore non-debt financing models such as public-private partnerships (PPPs), and Conduct a comprehensive analysis of potential fiscal risks; continue to strengthen debt management, improve debt reporting and transparency, etc. by publishing publicly guaranteed debt on a regular basis.

(7) Strengthen public finances and maintain sustainable debt levels

Efforts to raise revenues will focus primarily on strengthening tax compliance and broadening the tax base.

On tax policy, the government will: review the Excise Duty Act to convert ad valorem excise duties on alcohol, tobacco, vehicles, sugary drinks, plastics and other items to specific rates to internalize external costs, reduce harmful behaviour, and provide Stable revenue streams; widening the tax base of Goods and Services Tax (GST), as 60% of its tax base is tax-free, and areas such as digital services and insurance are not subject to GST; Legislative framework for environmental issues to enable access to climate finance in the Sai Forest. In terms of tax management, implement the tax system for high-net-worth individuals.

In terms of local finance, the Sierra Leone government will formulate and implement new fiscal decentralization policies and strategies to provide local councils with additional sources of income and promote local taxation.

For expenditure management, realistic forecasts of domestic revenues are used to avoid allocating higher expenditures that cannot be financed. To improve budget execution, the government will: strive to release quarterly budget appropriations on time at least one week before the start of the next quarter to prevent arrears from accumulating; ensure that quarterly budget allocations are linked to cash flow forecasts and that budget execution will be based on an "out of budget or out of money" basis principles to deter requests for extrabudgetary expenditures; continue to implement the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) system to ensure that payment requests are sent to the Bank of Sierra Leone only when funds are available, thereby eliminating the accumulation of outstanding checks at the Bank of Sierra Leone.

The Sierra Leone government is developing a medium-term income strategy (MTRS) with the support of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which will set a plan for policy, legislative and executive actions to put the national budget on a sustainable path.

(8) Improving Governance and Accountability

Building on existing reforms, by 2023 the government will take action to strengthen auditing and the financial independence of the Sierra Leone Audit Office, and improve the performance and governance of state-owned enterprises, including state-owned banks.