63.69 TRILLION OLD LEONES ACRUED…
SIERRA LEONE HEAVILY INDEBTED
*APC: 15 Trillion in 10 Years
*SLPP: 36 Trillion in 5 Years
By Ibrahim Alusine Kamara (Kamalo)
Sierra Leone’s external and domestic debts continue to surge at an exponential rate, as the country now stands as the second most indebted in Africa, according to a recent report by Statista.
Sierra Leone, a small West African nation rich in mineral and endowed with abundant, able-bodied human resources, is being overburdened by domestic and external debts, known in general terms as public debt, which involves all liabilities of financial claims that require the Government to pay interest and/or principal to its domestic and external creditors.
Official sources say the total public debt stock of Sierra Leone as at the end of December 2023 amounted to NLe63.69 billion, formerly 63.69 trillion Leones. Out of this amount, the
external debt amounted to NLe42.91 billion (42.91 trillion Old Leones) while the domestic debt accounted for NLe20.78 billion (20.78 trillion Old Leones).
Simply put, domestic debt is the amount of money owed to residents of Sierra Leone, and external debt is that amount of money owed to non-residents in the form of multilateral, bilateral and commercial creditors. The domestic debt includes,
Government Treasury bills and bonds, registered stocks and promissory notes, verified domestic suppliers’ arrears, outstanding obligations owed to state-owned enterprises and Ways and Means Advances owed to the Central Bank of Sierra Leone.
An analysis on Sierra Leone’s Public Debt suggests a rapid increasing trend even after the country had a considerable portion of its debt stock of 6.3 trillion Old Leones (6.3 billion New Leones) cancelled in 2006.
Before the end of 2013, however, report indicates the country’s public debt stood at NLe6.57 billion New Leones (6.57 trillion Old Leones), and by the end of 2023, it reached the peak of NLe63.69 billion New Leones (63.69 trillion Old Leones).
In a recent parliamentary debate, however, Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Hon Abdul Kargbo, laid bare Sierra Leone’s debt profile in post-war era, informing the public that a belief held by many that the entire debt owed by Sierra Leone was cancelled in 2006 was not true. He said that only the amount owed to countries and organisations under the Paris Club was cancelled, not the entire total of debts, as 2.8 trillion Old Leones which is equivalent to 2.8 billion New Leones remained as the actual debt on Sierra Leone before 2007, and which the Ernest Koroma-led APC government inherited from the SLPP government of late Alhaji Dr. Ahmad Tejan-Kabbah.
In 2008, one year after the APC came to power, the debt rose from 2.8 trillion Old Leones (2.8 billion New Leones) to 3.2 trillion Old Leones, now 3.2 billion New Leones.
Hon Kargbo furthered that in 2009, the country’s debt rose to 3.9 trillion Old Leones (2.9 billion New Leones), while in 2010 it reached 4.8 trillion Leones (4.8 billion), and 5.3 trillion (5.3 billion) in 2011.
Further in 2012, the country’s debt increased to 6 trillion Old Leones (6 billion New Leones), and 6.5 trillion Old Leones (6.5 billion New Leones) in 2013, including 7.9 trillion Old Leones (7.9 billion New Leones) in 2014, 10 trillion Old Leones (10 billion New Leones) in 2015, 12.9 trillion Old Leones (12.9 billion New Leones) in 2016, 14.9 trillion Old Leones (14.9 billion New Leones) in 2017, and 17.8 trillion Leones (17.8 billion Leones) in 2018.
From the above debt profile read by Hon Abdul Kargbo, it means that in the ten years of the APC Ernest Bai Koroma’s rule, the country incurred an additional debt of 15 trillion Old Leones (15 billion New Leones) only, and President Julius Maada Bio, therefore, inherited in 2018 when he assumed power a debt in the sum of 17.8 trillion Old Leones which is 17.8 billion New Leones.
According to the Opposition Leader in Parliament, in 2019 the debt rose from 17.8 to 21.4 trillion Old Leones (21.4 billion New Leones); in 2020, 27.1 trillion Old Leones (27.1 billion New Leones); and in 2021, 31.6 trillion Old Leones (31.6 billion New Leones). While the country’s debt also rose from this amount to 47.5 trillion Old Leones (47.5 billion New Leones) in 2022, it reached the peak of 54.1 trillion Old Leones (54.1 billion New Leones) in 2023.
It means then that just in six years of President Maada Bio’s rule, the country’s debt has increased by 36 trillion Old Leones (36 billion New Leones), excluding the debt that might have been incurred in 2024 so far.
Experts of Public debts management say debts are not at all bad as people think, they are only if those indebted and its handlers are not fit for purpose to undertake feasible financial policies.
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament enlisted all the roads constructed by the APC government of President Koroma and seemed to have insinuated that it all came from loans, but Hon Abdul Kargbo on his part seemed taking a swipe at such an insinuation by wishing how the funds from the gigantic debts incurred by the Maada Bio regime would have been used to construct more roads as did the APC.