A look at the development opportunities in Post Conflict

1. Digital artifact

2.  The youth of Sierra Leone who are currently
unemployed or under employed, age group
15-35 years who suffered from the civil war
and did not have opportunity of education.
 Policy makers and government of Sierra
Leone.
 The global Private Sector investors.
 Multilateral and Development Banks.

3.  Region: Sub Saharan Africa
 Population : 6.45m (60% rural)
 Category: Low Income
 GNI Per Capital: $630
 Annual GDP growth : (2011) 4.81%, (2012) 15.182%, (2013) 20.716%,
(2014) 4.5
 5%, (2015) -20.599%, (2016) 4.3%
 Agriculture value added: (2013) 49.719; (2014) 53.95; (2015) 61.335
 Agriculture GDP Growth: (2013) 4.55%, (2014) .808%, (2015)

4. -25
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
1 2 3 4 5 6
GDP% 2011-2016
GDP% 2011-2016

5. Agric GDP growth 2010-2015
0
1
2
3
4
5
1 2 3
4
5
6
Agric GDP growth 2010-2015
Agric GDP growth 2010-2015

6.  Widespread rural and urban poverty.
 Poor infrastructure.
 Low productivity in agriculture due to the traditional methods of farming and low investment in
machinery
 Youth unemployment and underemployment affected 40-50% of the population.
Infrastructure gap - key growth drivers of the economy
 Hydro-power Energy is marred with technical losses due to lack of maintenance, overloading, inadequate
metering, billing and revenue collection issues (electricity generation 90MW and distribution with 6% population
access,(1% of rural access). Tariff is higher than region average. This key infrastructure is needed energy for
decent living and industrialization of the economy which is fossil dominated.
 Transportation and Logistics especially shared transportation arrangements for mineral resources and multiple
users. (Sea port and exports). The growing mining sector lacks adequate transportation to port while movement
of goods, farm produce and distribution is limited due to inappropriate logistics which increased costs.
 Insufficient rural and inter city road networks affected commodity and farm produce distribution with about 40%
post harvest losses. This factor also account for increased the cost of doing business in Sierra Leone.
 Airports . There is only one airport in the capital Freetown.
 Absent of steel manufacturing plants in spite of the huge iron ore deposit which became a major exports
revenue earner. Adding value locally could create job potentials and impact on the economy, though mining is
not a key growth driver of the economy
 Undeveloped Eco tourism. There is vast potential for eco tourism. The coastal
 Fishing – There were found a handful of illegal fishing activities in the coastal areas. Governance issues is
required to address and also encourage youths .

8.  Achieving the SDG is a big challenge for any single nation or donor to
confront. It requires cooperation of governments, MDBs, CSOs and the
Private Sector.
 The amount required to contain the SDG goals moved from billions to
trillions USD.
 Towards this end, IDA increased funding to USD70b yearly for poor and
fragile States and provided the Cascading approach to encourage Private
Sector Window to first unlock infrastructure opportunities on the SDGs .
 Governments being signatories to the SDG 2030 goals have responsibilities
for maintaining environment suitable for achieving the goals.
 Need to for Sierra Leone government to capitalize on the significant growth
opportunities attained in the last few years to stir up the Transformation of
the economy to attain ‘Investors destination’ in Africa. This would catalyze
the status to the MIC
 Sierra Leone presents vast opportunities for private investors especially in
infrastructure development, given the IDA-Private Sector Window investors
could leverage on to make long term returns. Government’s responsiveness
to open the economy would accelerate economic growth.

9.  The country enjoys Steady political climate from 2012, now expects
elections in 2018 .
 Government has embarked on governance reforms and in some key
areas
 Ongoing Reforms of the Public Sector Financial Management
Systems with focus on fiscal discipline and efficient allocation of
resources, needs to achieve efficiency of the Public Procurement
systems.
 Decentralization and devolvement of power to the Local Councils
was achieved, local councils now elect representatives.
 Government bureaucracy is still an issue.
 Ongoing reforms of the electricity sector with the unbundling of
government monopoly of the sector.

10. In order for government to attract quality investors, it must :
 Embark on Regulatory Reforms to unbundle the electricity industry and
other key sectors of the economy.
 Commit to transparency and highly competitive selection. Have in
operation an effective public procurement systems.
 Improve on the doing business index. It came down 3points from 145
(2016) to 148 (2017). Getting electricity remained one of the lowest
scores. Access to credit was perceived to be a concern in doing business
in Sierra Leone.
 Transparency Internal score of 123/176 at 30% score requires further
improvements. Calls for the comprehensive audit of the Ebola Funds.
 Government need to continue making right policies that would facilitate
its developmental objectives and eliminate bureaucratic delays.
 Need for strong institutions to support governance.
 Maintain macro economic stability.

11.  Major driver of inclusive growth in Sierra Leone is agriculture. However, problems
identified were low productivity, lack of investment in modern machinery, land tenure
system, post harvest losses due to transportation issues, youth’s lack of interest in
agriculture etc.
 The ongoing small holders commercialization could be have a component of ‘Youth
villages’ across the country with a hub for entertainment to foster national cohesion.
The cluster would become out grower scheme for redistribution, processing and
exports. Ensure Financial inclusiveness by leveraging on technology for rural financing.
 Value chain in agribusiness could have tremendous impact on the economy especially
from the cocoa, rice, oil palm, fishing and poultry.
 Luring the youth into agribusiness and mechanized farming could provide long term
growth and have multiplier effects on the livelihood of citizens.
 Government needs to improve regulations in the agriculture sector especially the Land
reform and Land Management .
 IDA window is readily available for agriculture while private sector window would be
required in processing, distribution and transportation and also leverage on technology
for financial inclusiveness especial

12.  Electricity challenge is the overarching catalyst to the economic growth of the country. The mining sector and
industries require projected 1276MW to move the economy. The installed 100MW capacity hydro power grid is
very old (50years), provides access to 6% of the population (1% rural access) and having high seasonal variability.
 Government ongoing reforms has unbundled the power sector into generation and distribution. Presently, Power
Africa has committed $44m partnership agreement between MCC and Government. WBG $138mwith an ongoing
57MW plant. These are found inadequate given government projections towards the SDGs, therefore giving
opportunities for the Private investors.
 PSW could be deployed to achieve the remainder of the targeted 3389MW capacity by 2030.
Thermal(1080.75MW) Renewable 1228.37MW, West African Power Pool (WAPP) 80MW and other mix power
700MW.
ELECTRICITY INSTALL CAPACITY PROJECTION FOR SIERRA LEONE (2012 –2030)
Proposed Electricity Supply Capacity
Short Term
(2012 – 2015)
Medium Term
(2015 – 2020)
Long Term
(2020-2030)
Conventional Power (MW) 367.5 745.75 1080.75
Renewable Power (MW) 101.57 659.571 1228.37
WAPP 0 80 280
Others MixPower 100 500 700
Grand Total (MW) 569.071 1985.32 3389.12
National Power(MW) 124.17 704.32 1283.12
Private Section Power (MW) 211.9 301 376
Mining Sector Power (MW) 133 400 650
Source: MEWR, NPA, Mining Companies, NRA, BKPS & SPU (2012)

13.  Infrastructure in electricity distribution and generation was put at $170m and $300m (2015) respectively
 Multiple use transportation for mineral resources and port was valued at billions of dollars. These investments
are quite huge for a LIC to finance from her domestic revenue.
 IDA – PSW Cascading approach in financing infrastructure is advisable. It frees up the domestic revenue for
other priorities and ensure facilities are self sustainable in the long run. It considers the private sector approach
financing first, then PPP if both are not feasible, the public sector option , It is only available for poor and fragile
States like Sierra Leone.
The three pronged approach used by the IDA are:
 1. help governments create an enabling environment for business and private investments, prepare
projects, build strong projects pipeline and lower existing information barriers.
 2. explore risk sharing approaches with the private sector, align risk opportunities and appetites by
de risking the projects through options like WB Treasury which creates instruments to separate risks
so that different investors could carry them. (Low, Medium and High). IFC MCPP and MIGA could
facilitate guarantees to projects to mobilize capital for viable projects that would not otherwise fly
without these protections.
 3. Support the development of Sierra Leone domestic capital market and instruments suitable to
institutional investors for mobilsation of domestic resources and foreign investment.
There are developed pipeline of well prepared project in GIF -
www.globainfrafacility.org Prospective investors mayapply.

14.  The essence of this approach is to use private financing for
infrastructure development thereby freeing up government
resources for other priorities. It is usually for projects that are
self paying through tariffs income of other user paid services.
 Sustainable Infrastructure Finance are available in the
following categories:
 1. Commercial Financing
 2. Upstream Reforms
 3. Public and Concession Resources for Risk instrument and
Credit enhancements
 4. Public and concessional financing including sub sovereign

15. Public and concessional financing including sub sovereign through the
PSW is advisable for financing the infrastructure gaps. It concession the
infrastructure to private hands who take overall responsibility for
operation and maintenance. It is especially good for projects that have
long life span as it would allow investor recover his profit over time. It
frees resources for other government priorities. It is a win-win scenario.
In the alternative of PPP, government share should be highly
insignificant .(5%) such massive investment could catapult the fortunes
of Sierra Leone, increase jobs and livelihood, have multiplier effects on
the economies , further advance FDIs, transform the economy.

16. Thank you.

17.  References:
 WB Sierra Leone: Country Strategy Paper
 Ministry of Finance and Economic Development
 WB Doing Business
 Transparency International
 WBG: Job Challenges and opportunities in Sierra Leone
 Sierra Leone MEWR: National Energy Profile doc. 2012.