Sierra Leone gov't announces strict measures to stabilize economy

The government of Sierra Leone late Monday announced strict and stringent measures to turn around the country's ailing economy.

The announcement came after an emergency cabinet meeting held at the office of the President to find ways to stabilize the Sierra Leone economy.

The measures include a thirty percent cut in the country's recurrent expenditure across the board, suspend all domestic finance capital contracts until further notice, and no new procurement of government vehicles.

Also the government announced a fifty percent cut in fuel allocations to all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and the restriction of all overseas travels, among others.

President Ernest Koroma told his cabinet that "these measures will be implemented up to the first half of 2017 as to stabilize the economy."

He expressed the need for the country to take an inward look under the current domestic revenue mobilization, urging all MDAs to cut down on expenditure and focus on measures that would be implemented to stabilize the country's economy.

The measures came a week after an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission meeting in Freetown, during which the mission called on the government to cut down on their expenditures. Endit