World Bank, BSE Hold Big Confab Next Week

The World Bank in collaboration with the Bureau of State Enterprises (BSE) will on next Tuesday, May 28  hold a one-day forum in Monrovia.

The forum, which is expected to be held under the theme: “Navigating the path to sustainable State-owned Enterprises,” is expected to be held at the Mamba Hotel in Monrovia and will bring together heads of all State-Owned Enterprises.

The workshop will also be attended by Chairs of SOE boards, major partners; including the International Monitoring Fund (IMF), the African Development Bank (ADB) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Expected outcome of the one-day forum is to ensure transparency and accountability within SOEs.

The ensuing forum followed recent courtesy visit paid by the Bank Delegation on the Director General of the Bureau of State Enterprises,  Arthur S. Massaquoi at his Capital Bye Pass office in Monrovia.

The discussion with the World Bank delegation at the time centered on building a sustainable and vibrant State-owned Enterprise sector in an ardent effort to curbing leakages and financial risk.

In welcoming the delegation, Mr. Massaquoi highlighted challenges and gains made by his administration and stressed the need to foster mutual collaboration with the World Bank and other partners.

As part of the discussion, the World Bank Financial Specialist,  Macdonald Nyavigo unveiled and presented a draft policy document under the caption "Liberia: IMPROVING GOVERNANCE OF STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES AND REDUCING THE FISCAL RISKS".

Mr. Nyavigo, in his presentation, underscored the need for the Liberian Government to place more emphasis in exerting oversight over SOEs in Liberia.

The World Bank representative indicated in his presentation that the draft policy document was informed as a result of a field assessment of eighteen (18) SOES out of forty-six (46) carried out by the World Bank in 2023.

According to the World Bank financial specialist, the assessment covered fiscal years, 2020, 2021 and 2022. The assessment findings showed a progressive down ward trend in SOEs income generating capacity.

He indicated that the assessment findings is a bad sign for corporate governance in Liberia and as such, the Bureau of State Enterprises

should muster the courage to exert full over sight of the sector in order to curb financial risks and leakages. Other issues discussed include; financial accountability, control and transparency as well as legal and regulatory framework for SOE governance.

The World bank representative shared copies of the draft policy document with the Bureau for review and lamented that following the review and conclusion of the policy document, the world Bank will sponsor a one day working session with all stake holders in the sector with representatives from the IMF, African Development Bank, the Ministry of Finance, Executive Branch as well as the Liberian Parliament.