By Saidu Jalloh, Reporter, Daily Scope
Washington, D.C. — Jeneba Bangura, Commissioner General of Sierra Leone’s National Revenue Authority (NRA), has issued a stark warning about the diminishing flow of traditional aid to developing nations. Speaking at a high-level panel during the IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings, she revealed that Sierra Leone’s annual budget support from the World Bank has dramatically decreased from $100 million to an anticipated zero over just two years.
“In the past, we received about $100 million a year in budget support from the World Bank,” Bangura stated. “But in 2024, that dropped to $40 million, and as I speak, we may not receive anything at all for 2025.” She further noted that other key partners, including the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), have adopted similar funding reductions, although the European Union has recently resumed limited support.
Bangura emphasized the challenges posed by these sudden cuts, which often occur after national budgets have been finalized, forcing the government to urgently “reprioritize and rearrange spending.” This abrupt loss of funding has heightened the demand for increased domestic revenue.
In response to this fiscal pressure, Sierra Leone has launched an ambitious domestic revenue mobilization campaign. Bangura reported that the government has raised its revenue target by 46 percent for 2024 and aims for an additional 30 percent increase in 2025. The finance ministry has intensified oversight, now monitoring tax collection on a daily basis.
The panel, titled “Taxing Smarter after Aid,” addressed the difficult circumstances facing countries like Sierra Leone as traditional aid diminishes. Experts from the Tax Justice Network Africa highlighted how international lending conditions imposed by the IMF can limit policy flexibility and exacerbate inequality. Meanwhile, Ceren Ozer, a World Bank manager, pointed to nearly $7 billion in active concessional lending projects aimed at enhancing domestic revenue, contrasting with the immediate budget crisis described by Bangura.
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