- Modad
Former Commerce Minister Amin Modad has welcomed Liberia’s reported US$1 billion domestic revenue collection milestone while warning the Boakai administration that the achievement will have little meaning for ordinary Liberians unless the additional fiscal space produces measurable improvements in their daily lives.
Modad’s comments came after the Liberia Revenue Authority announced on Monday, September 15, 2026, that the government had reached the US$1 billion mark in domestic revenue collection, a development that has been presented as an important milestone in Liberia’s effort to strengthen domestic resource mobilization.
But rather than treating the figure itself as the final measure of success, Modad challenged the government and the public to focus on what the revenue achievement will actually deliver.
“The government generated one billion, so what,” Modad asked, reflecting skepticism he said many ordinary Liberians understandably have toward man government revenue announcements.
According Modad, skepticism is not simply a product of political opposition or narratives being promoted against the government. He it is also rooted in years of promises by successive administrations that collected public revenues without producing the level of transformation the Liberian people expected.
He therefore urged Liberians to avoid both extremes, saying the government should be given an opportunity to prove that the increased revenue can translate into tangible national development while remaining subject to strong public accountability.
Modad described the US$1 billion collection as a significant step, but said its importance goes beyond the size of the amount.
For him, the achievement demonstrates that the government established a revenue target, developed a strategy and succeeded in reaching it. He argued that Liberia could potentially generate substantially more domestic revenue if the country continues implementing appropriate policies, reforms and strategies.
However, Modad stressed that increased revenue must create meaningful fiscal space rather than simply becoming another government financial statistic.
He said strategically reinvesting the additional resources could help improve healthcare, education, infrastructure, youth development, public services and economic opportunities.
But he cautioned against attempting to solve every national problem simultaneously. Liberia, Modad said, has too many competing needs and limited resources, prioritization essential.
His proposed approach is to first establish the policies, reforms and institutions needed to make economic growth and domestic revenue sustainable.
He pointed to Liberia’s postwar experience under former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, saying one of the challenges of her first term was the enormous skill of the problems inherited after the war and the pressure to address them at the same time.
He said limited resources and institutional capacity were consequently stretched across competing priorities.
His argument places the current US$1 billion revenue achievement within a much larger question about how Liberia manages public finances and determines national priorities.
Modad said mechanisms should also be considered for responsible refinancing and restructuring where productive businesses have fallen into distress because of expensive financing or difficult economic conditions.
His broader economic prescription is built around protecting essential services, developing young Liberians, producing more goods currently imported, adding value to Liberia’s natural resources, increasing exports and building a stronger Liberian-owned private sector.
He also warned that Liberian cannot ontinue planning its economic future around assumption that foreign assistance will always be available. He pointed to the declining foreign aid, shifting geopolitical priorities and fragmentation in the international system as reasons Liberia must strengthen its ability to finance its own development.
