7 Responses

1. I've been looking for a way to take economic action and contact our legislators and sign petitions and found some good policy the U.S. Chamber of Commerce backs (here).

   I don't have a lot of money or time, but I figure this will help other people do good.

2. Slightly faulty comparison–the Liberian system is fashioned after that in the US not the UK, and US Treasury has roughly 100,000 employees. And the US population is roughly 100 times Liberia’s…

   That said, the US Treasury has a few more responsibilities than Liberia’s Ministry of Finance.

3. Well, all they need is a good petroleum windfall in their part of the Gulf of Guinea and they’ll be right up there with you.

4. But (as Lee should know as he’s one of them) there are 4 ODI Fellows in the Ministry of Finance in Southern Sudan. Surely that counts for something? :)

5. And how much technical assistance does it take to…

   Liberian government expenditures in 2008: $183 million
   Approximate number of CGD Fellows in the Liberian Ministry of Finance: 6

   Southern Sudanese government expenditures in 2008: ~ $2.75 billion
   Approximate number of CGD Fellows in the Southern Sudanese Ministry of Finance: 0

6. Indeed. When I worked in the Ministry of Finance in Sierra Leone a couple of years back, there were definitly no more than 200 people (not counting various messengers, guards etc who are paid very little).

7. 1,000 people in the MoF in Liberia? Good lord – I used to work in the MoF in Malawi, which has nearly 4x the population, but likely a quarter the number of staff.

   Are the two institutions comparable? The Treasury in Malawi was classified as just part of the Ministry of Finance, which also included the Accountant General, Auditor General and a couple other small units.