Sierra Leone: In 2020 financial year (FY), the Government of Sierra Leone received direct budget support grants of Le302.4billion which was Le69.8 billion higher than the Le232.6billion for FY2019, according to the Accountant General’s Department (AGD).
Richard S Williams, Accountant General in his General-Purpose Financial Statements (GPFS) of the Consolidated Fund for the Financial Year (FY) ended 31st December 2020 (Un-Audited), stated that these figures consist of HIPC Relief (Le12.5billion), and the EU State Building Contract Budget Support (€25 million or Le289.4billion).
The European Union (EU) receipts he said were split into two tranches comprising of the fixed tranche of €10 million which was received earlier in the context of the COVID 19 pandemic.
“The remaining €15 million was received later in the year which was supposed to be the variable tranche but was converted to a fixed tranche as a result of the effective cooperation between our services during these challenging moments and the continued focus towards the achievements of relevant indicators for the strengthening of our national PFM systems” the Accountant General said.
Further figures indicate that direct budget support loan disbursements during FY2020 was Le 2,558.1billion (Le644.9billion – FY2019), consisting of the World Bank (total of Le 831.0billion) which is the equivalent of $101million contributing Le 395 billion under the third productivity and transparency support grant agreement, with and additional Le 436 billion.
In addition, the total amount received from the Africa Development Bank is Le126.1billion, equivalent of $12.7 million as part of its support to the COVID 19 response under the replenishment of the revolving fund COVID 19 response program.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) he said provided its budget support to the Government through the Bank of Sierra Leone totaling Le1,601.0billion. This he added, comprises of Le110 billion, equivalent of SDR 8.180 million net of the repayment of the on-lending budget finance and Le 98.9 billion equivalent of SDR 7.035 million.
“This was the total under the IMF Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust with in the Poverty Reduction Growth Trust. The remaining Le 1,391.5 billion (SDR 103.7 million) was again provided by the Fund under its Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) program as described in the MOU of the 28th May 2020 signed by the Government of Sierra Leone.”
ZIJ/20/04/2021