Africa-Press – Liberia. Finance and Development Planning Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan has announced that the government will submit a supplementary budget to the Legislature in February, clarifying that the 2025 National Budget is still being executed, despite the Legislature’s passage of the US$1.2 billion FY2026 budget, which has been forwarded to President Joseph Nyuma Boakai for signature.
Addressing the opening of the Ministry’s three-day FY2026 Budget Execution Workshop, Ngafuan emphasized urgency, transparency, and accountability as the guiding principles of the government’s fiscal management agenda.
“It’s been a long time since a supplementary budget was submitted to the Legislature. But we are still executing the 2025 budget,” Ngafuan said, urging ministries and agencies to accelerate spending before the March deadline.
He warned that delays could expose institutions to scrutiny from oversight bodies.
“We have 90 days up to the end of March. Some of you still have to execute so that the March deadline doesn’t catch you off guard. Because at that point, the Comptroller, the Auditor General, and their teams will come and draw a hard line on us,” he cautioned.
Linking Budget Execution to Presidential Agenda
Ngafuan tied budget execution directly to President Boakai’s development agenda, warning bureaucrats against unnecessary delays.
“If you delay, you are delaying President Joseph Boakai—and the President wants speedy execution,” he said.
He stressed that the Ministry’s role is to prevent funds from lapsing.
“Our job is not to see the budgets of entities lapse. Our job is to ensure execution.”
Defending the FY2026 Budget
The Finance Minister also pushed back against critics who have described the US$1.2 billion FY2026 budget as unrealistic or “phantom.”
“The critics are criticizing. They said those things before. They need to understand that they are dealing with meticulous men and women,” Ngafuan asserted.
Clarifying public misconceptions, he explained that the budget does not represent money already sitting in government accounts.
“Some people think when we say a US$1.2 billion budget, the money is already in the Central Bank. No. It is a plan to raise money over 12 months and execute it through sustained effort,” he said.
Ngafuan outlined a strategy to raise revenue and implement the budget gradually over the fiscal year, stressing that early execution is critical to avoiding the pitfalls of past delays.
“Effort is an important part of the 12 months, and from what I see, the efforts so far are commendable,” he added.
Avoiding “Tail-End Execution”
Reflecting on previous fiscal challenges, Ngafuan said execution in 2026 could be smoother if current momentum is maintained.
“If things remain this way, execution will be smoother in 2026 than it was in previous years,” he said.
However, he acknowledged the risk of external shocks.
“We do not pray for exogenous shocks, although we don’t control them. But so far, we are learning.”
The Boakai-Koung administration, he said, is determined to avoid what has become known as “tail-end execution,” where spending is rushed at the close of the fiscal year.
“We don’t want tail-end execution. We want smooth execution—first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, and fourth quarter,” Ngafuan stressed.
Procurement Delays and Institutional Readiness
Ngafuan identified procurement delays as a recurring challenge, particularly during the transition to new systems.
“Last year, execution delays occurred because many ministries, partners, and vendors did not know how to navigate the procurement platform. Some people were stuck for months just trying to understand the process,” he said.
He urged heads of institutions to act proactively.
“Check with your staff and find out how far they’ve gone in getting procurement plans approved, because those plans are linked to the cash plan.”
Revenue and Reform Challenges
The Minister acknowledged that some delays were unavoidable but stressed that they were not necessarily caused by revenue shortfalls.
“We call it revenue-expenditure smoothing. But there are situations where revenue is available, and things are still delayed.”
Using a mathematical analogy, Ngafuan defended the government’s progress.
“Sometimes you pray to start from zero. But in some cases, you inherit a negative balance. The effort to move from negative 100 to zero is enormous before you even begin to grow.”
He concluded by acknowledging that while challenges remain, progress is being made.
“We are not where we want to be yet, but one thing is incontestable: we are not where we were yesterday. Today is better than yesterday,” Ngafuan said.
Meanwhile, Ngafuan’s announcement that the Ministry plans to submit a supplementary budget to the House of Representatives in February, even as the 2025 fiscal year has ended and the FY2026 budget has already been passed by the Legislature and forwarded to the President for signature, has generated mixed reactions.
Critics urged the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning to instead work with the Executive Mansion to ensure that the FY2026 budget is promptly signed into law, allowing regular budget execution to commence.
One critic, Allen Jackson, described the move as “a recipe for corruption,” and called on the Legislature to reject any supplementary budget submitted under the current circumstances.
Efforts to obtain a response from the Ministry were unsuccessful as of press time.
However, supporters of the move point to provisions of Liberia’s Public Financial Management (PFM) Law. Section 17 of the law provides that when the Legislature is unable to approve a national budget before the start of a fiscal year, the Minister of Finance is authorized to collect revenues and approve expenditures in line with the proposed budget, up to one-twelfth (1/12) of the previous fiscal year’s approved budget.
The law further stipulates that any expenditure made under this arrangement must be captured in the subsequent financial outturn.
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