A quick walk through time

As I waited in Brussels for my connecting flight to Monrovia, the images of Liberia that I had seen in films and photos streamed through my mind. Some were images of the 14-year civil war that had gripped the country and decimated the economy – young men wielding guns, panicked citizens running on the streets, destroyed roads and homes. Other images were that of the new Liberia in peacetime – President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her Iron Ladies in the government, people going about their normal lives, the rebuilding of roads and schools.

The country’s economic performance reflected these contrasting images: between 1987 and 1995, Liberia’s GDP had fallen dramatically by 90% in what was one of the largest ever economic collapses recorded in the world. Following the inauguration of the new government in 2006, GDP growth jumped to 7.8 percent, and rose to 9.5 percent in 2007. This growth is expected to be sustained in 2008, reaching more than 10 percent in 2009 by IMF and government estimates.

However, it is all too easy to take this progress for granted. Once you think about the fact that a whole generation of Liberians have spent more time at war than at school, you begin to comprehend the complexities of the task of rebuilding the country. With hundreds of thousands of the young in Liberia unemployed, many with past experience as fighters, and with the deep social divides that continue to exist in Liberia, a combination of sustained growth and equitable distribution of wealth would be essential for the country’s economic and political stability.

Liberia’s past might have been a turbulent one, but if present efforts to sustain growth and development are successful, there is hope for future generations.