Wealth Fund to Boom ‘Salone’ Economy
According to the Minister of Finance, he has affirmed that he is very pleased to engage journalists on national issues that are related to economic growth of the country.
He informed the press that they have been following the development around the Wealth Fund and the dissemination of information through the media to the general public on
the Mineral Wealth Fund is not encouraging. He added that the President made a
pronouncement in the town hall meeting of his own commitment and his vision,
and as a Minister of Finance, he is being giving the task to spearhead these
vision of the President to be achievable, and he could not do it alone.
The Finance Minister recalled the significant role play by the former Minister of Finance,
Jacob Saffa, including those that have held such positions before him, and they
have been in full support of the Mineral Wealth Fund since 2022. He also added
that this vision comes from a geological survey in which after the survey it
came to the notice of the President that we have lots of mineral in this
country and Sierra Leone is rich in mineral resources, and now they have become
aware of these riches in mineral, they wanted to give back to the people of
this country and the people are not benefitting from these mining company even
though the government engages them to do the needful things. He added that in
some part of the world countries that are rich in resources have always of benefited
from access to financial wealth, noting
that after seeing this development in
other countries, he wanted to implement them in Sierra Leone in which he encouraged partners to discuss the way forward
of these development model.
Furthermore, he stated that since 2018 this country has increased export in the mineral sector
from 359 Million per year and now is over 1.16 Trillion in 2023. He however
lamented that government share of what comes to the treasury has decreased from
7.8 percent to 2.3 percent by the end of
2023.
Minister Fatamadi Bangura, reaffirmed that for the past six years period the government
has exported 4 Billion dollar in mineral and the amount that comes to us is
just 1.86 Billion Dollar, and even though people are investing in the mineral
sector it is not reflecting in the country’s developmental growth and the mining
sector. He added that there has been lots
of changes in the country’s mining laws and regulations. He added that the large
scale is there and government is supposed to have a share of 10 percent of
these mineral and it has been realizable that the country is not getting much
in these agreement with the mining companies. He goes further by saying that the
state commercial interest is limited and the government of Sierra Leone as we
speak is not participating in mining and these are our mineral resources mining
is the strategic sector that would boost the economy. He noted that because the
situation is so frustrating, therefore, the President decided to establish the
Sierra Leone Mineral and Development Corporation and the corporation will work
in line with the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Finance has the
responsibility to mobilized resources to fund the need of the country and the
Ministry of Finance set these entities
He emphasized that the cooperation is set up by the President and it was signed as
a law, which was passed in parliament. He said the main objective of the Sierra
Leone Mineral Development Corporation is to act as a holding company to be a
special driving vehicle to enhance the Sierra Leone Mineral Wealth Fund, adding
that if you set up a corporation like this it will bring a clean slate. He also
added that it would close all the loop holes in which investor comes and invest
and they take all the money to their destination, noting that this corporation
would serve as a watch dog for the government. He also said that this company
would identify the mineral assets and goes back to Parliament for approval and
the Mineral Wealth Fund would provide advice to the government in terms of
mining agreement and the Mineral Wealth Fund would have mobilized capital to
invest in mineral.
Moreover, he also said that the Mineral Wealth Fund is structured with international best
practices in which the government of Sierra Leone established the Mineral
Wealth Fund. He also stated that the Mineral Wealth Fund is set up as a company
that would help to mobilize resources for the state. Fatamadi Bangura said the
corporation will be managed by a Board of Management of which he
would be one of the board members, the Bank Governor , Minister of Environment
including the President among others. He
disclosed that when they arrive in Tonkolili they will be in joint partnership
with China Railway and chart the way forward.