The former Finance Minister, now State House Chief Minister, Office of the President, Jacob Jusu Saffa has yet again made another bogus and vague promise to stabilize the already collapsed economy of Sierra Leone.
The Chief Minister recently made the vow during an interview with Radio Democracy 98.1. FM.
Saffa boasted that they (SLPP) know how to fix the economy and reverse the defiance foreign exchange rate of the ever-flying United States US Dollar and reduce inflation, but at a reasonable precent. He said as they are heading into elections, there are not many people coming into the country with foreign currencies, as a lot of people are holding on to their moneys awaiting the outcome of the elections. He added that such situation has a shocking effect on the economy.
This, Saffa stated, has affected the value of the Leones and how however promised that measures will be put in place just after his SLPP government would have secured a second term in office and the trend will be completely reversed.
Saffa said, “there is no way we can develop as a country, if we are unable to stabilize the economy.”
He emphasized that to stabilize the economy is mandatory for his government and that macroeconomics is imperative; adding that they must reduce prices and the Dollar, pointing out that his government has a clear agenda on how to go about it.
The Chief Minister admitted that there were lots of mistakes here and there that led to the current difficult economic quagmire, but promised further that it will soon be a thing of the past.
He affirmed that his government will stabilize the economy within the next three months, adding that it will be done as quickly as possible when they would have been voted in for another term of office.
He said they will implement mechanisms that will bring the negative variables down, immediately the elections are over, adding that it will be done in a more structured and more sustainable manner.
Saffa said until we as a nation improve on food productivity it won’t be easy for us to improve on the balance of trade deficit, thus emphasized that by extension we must improve on the foreign exchange if we are able to reduce food importation.
He said food importation has largely contributed adversely on the negative effect on the economy and unless we improve on food production, there is no way we can stabilize the economy.
It could be recalled that Saffa made similar promises prior to the 2018 elections when the SLPP was in opposition that if given the mandate to govern, they will fix the battered economy that was ruined by the then ruling All People’s Congress (APC) government led by former President Ernest Bai Koroma.
As the first Finance Minister under President Bio for nearly three years, Saffa was unable to live up to expectations as he was disappointedly removed from Finance and re-assigned to the Office of the President, at State House as a Chief Minister.
Many people interviewed by Afica24 Newspaper in reaction to the Chief Minister’s utterance on Radio Democracy, that his government will fix the economy in three months’ time, opined that how can the SLPP fix an economy in three months that they couldn’t do in the last five years.