Liberia

Background
Liberia was founded in 1847 as a safe haven for emancipated slaves. It enjoyed over 100 years of peace before 14 years of intermittent civil war which ended nearly a decade ago. The incumbent President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is Africa’s only female President. She is highly regarded in the international community for having wiped off over $2bn of national debt during her Presidency to date. Liberia is a coastal country with an estimated population of 3.9m people. It shares borders with Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Guinea.

At Hummingbird we pride ourselves not only on our strong relationships with the communities living in the areas in which we operate, but also with the Government of Liberia. We recognise that we have a huge opportunity with our first mover advantage to be working in a country which after 14 years of civil conflict has spent the last nine years of peace steadily improving its social, economic and fiscal stability.

Economic Growth
With three operational deep water ports, a newly rebuilt railway line and hundreds of kilometres of newly laid tarmac road, the ability to operate as a company and move towards developing a mine is only becoming easier. Liberia is a country that still remains one of the poorest in the world, and with unemployment standing at around 80%, factors such as community improvements and local employment are vital contributions to the country’s Poverty Reduction Strategy and therefore improving the country’s economic climate as a whole in the long-term. Despite being ranked last in the United Nations’ human development index in 2008, in that same year it was also named as ‘most improved country’ in Sub-Saharan Africa by the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance. The nation has since experienced an estimated 7.3% economic growth in 2011, up from 4.6% in 2010, and 6.1% in 2009, along with other countless successes.

A Bright and Stable Future
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Liberia was Africa’s largest iron ore exporter and the third largest in the world. This provided a launch pad for the extractive industry in the aftermath of civil war. Along with the impressive number of competitors operational in Liberia, this is a strong indication of the Liberian Government’s commitment to the continued growth and development of its economy and its peoples’ welfare.

Liberia’s Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) ensures financial transparency and accountability at a global standard, to the Liberian people. Liberia and Cameroon are the only two African countries to conform with this internationally recognised initiative. The prompt lifting of the embargo on exports of diamonds, gold, iron ore and timber after the 2006 elections was driven by the desperate need for national income for the people.