Daily News  :: West Africa

Monrovia - Days before the first anniversary of its coming to power, the government of Liberian President Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf has announced revenue intake of US$60.75mn in the first six months in the current budget year, media reports said here Sunday.

The reports quoted Information minister Lawrence Bropleh as telling reporters after a cabinet meeting at the weekend that the boost in revenue was propelled greatly by a boom in the rubber industry.

The minister said the repossession and reactivation of key rubber plantations, after the removal of former combatants who previously exploited them, saw an increase in export of the commodity.

Bropleh also explained that the government had streamlined its financial and economic policies and put in place a cash management system with the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

The information minister described as "good" government's budgetary performance in the first half of the current fiscal year (1 July 2006 - 30 June 2007).

Rubber is one of Liberia's key exports and economic analysts here say the government revenue intake is expected to swell further in 2007 when the country's timber and iron ore industries are revived.

Global steel giant Mittal Steel is expected to begin exploiting Liberia's vast iron ore deposit in the northwest of the country after a US$1bn mining agreement is ratified by parliament.

United Nations timber sanction has already been lifted and reform measures are being instituted by Liberia to resume timber export, as a number of international and local timber companies are poised to enter the sector.

Further boosts could be realized when the UN sanctions on diamonds are eventually lifted, the analysts.-panapress