The Minister of Finance and Development Planning of Liberia, Mr. Samuel Tweah, has emerged as a Top 25 Finance Leader in Africa for his continuous hard work under President George Weah’s leadership in stopping the loss of government resources to ghost workers and saving over $3 million USD; creating employment across several ministries and agencies; and getting over two thousand health workers’ names added to the payroll to earn over $11 million USD in salary and emoluments. And for participating actively to fulfil the promise made by President Weah to assist in improving the economic life of the people and their various households, in which over 3 million USD has been loaned out to the small and medium-scale business owners in order to improve the living standards of their households and make them active participants in advancing the nation’s economy.
Those that made the top 25 African finance leaders include Mrs. Rindra Rabarinirinarison, Minister of Economic and Finance, Madagascar; Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank; Hajia Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Nigeria; Hon. Renganaden Padayachy, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning, and Development, Mauritius; Lesetja Kganyago, Governor, South African Reserve Bank (SARB); and others.
Prior to becoming Minister of Finance in 2016, Mr. Tweah worked as a senior advisor at the African Development Bank. Before then, he served as Chief Economist (2013–2016) of the National Millennium Compact Development Project of Liberia, an entity under the Ministry of Finance and Developing Planning (MFDP) charged with developing Liberia’s present compact with the Millennium Challenge Corporation of the United States.
Furthermore, he has been the banker-friendly minister, as he works assiduously in line with the President’s plan for the government to pay them millions of dollars of loans owed to them so as to ensure that the bankers have enough funds to loan out to the business public in the interest of the national economy.
According to the ministry, the listing is a special recognition of the outstanding contributions of Africa’s topmost finance leaders for providing the leadership and innovative policies, programmes, and actions that have helped stabilise many challenged national economies in Africa while driving recovery and stimulating growth, even when slow, amidst global economic shocks. The list, which draws from finance ministers, central bank governors, and chief executives of leading banking, finance, and development institutions from across Africa, is a showcase of finance leaders helping in the drive to finance Africa’s development and those who, through strong fiscal and macroeconomic policies, have enhanced the national economic outlook and especially supported the growth of small businesses despite the current global economic climate.
According to the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, the Top 25 African Finance Leaders list was compiled following a merit-based selection and rigorous review process of a 2-step points-based selection process that included nominations by a global pool of writers as well as experts in the African banking and finance industry, leading to the ALM (an international media house with headquarters in the United Kingdom) Editorial Board’s final review of the nominations and submissions, using supporting evidence and voting considerations in their final decisions to decide those who emerge on the listing of the ALM Top 25 African Finance Leaders 2023. The complete list was unveiled during the African Finance Leaders’ Networking Cocktail on April 13th, 2023, at the National Press Club, Washington, DC, USA, on the margins of the annual World Bank Group and IMF 2023 Spring meetings.