Liberia

EITI Status Meaningful progress
Joined EITI in 2008
Latest Data From 2018
Website EITI Liberia
Last updated 15 February 2021

Overview

All of Liberia’s extractive sectors suffered dramatically during the civil war that ended in 2003. The country acted as a major trader in Sierra Leonian blood diamonds and an exporter of timber which was believed to be funding Sierra Leonean rebels. UN sanctions against timber and diamonds were lifted in 2006 and 2007 respectively. Following the inauguration of the Sirleaf administration in 2006, Liberia signed several multibillion-dollar concession agreements in the iron ore and palm oil industries with numerous multinational corporations, including BHP Billiton and ArcelorMittal.

Liberia’s EITI covers the mining and timber sector as well as agriculture and the nascent oil and gas sectors. Since the first EITI report in 2009,  total government revenue reported from the extractives has been increasing from USD 29.5 million (2007-2008)  to over USD 100 million. Liberia latest EITI Report covering the fiscal year 2015 - 2016 highlights total government revenue from the extractive sector at USD 56 million of which mining contributed 49%, oil and gas (exploration) contributed 5%, agriculture 26%  and forestry 20%. 

Liberia: Addressing the roots of Liberia’s conflicts through EITI

Extractive industries contribution to the economy

  • NA
    to exports
  • 15 %
    to GDP
  • 26 %
    to government revenue
  • 49 %
    to employment

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Tax and legal framework

The Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy (MLME) is responsible for the administration of the mineral sector, including granting mining licenses, and it has statutory oversight of the energy, land, minerals, and water sectors. The mineral sector is regulated by the Mining and Minerals Law of 2000. The fiscal regime specific for mining companies is set out in the Liberia Revenue Code (LRC) from section 701 to section 739. The main taxes paid by a mining company are: tax on taxable income, royalties and surface rent. The Online Repository contains information on mining licences granted, license areas, periods, status etc. 

The MLME regulates the oil and gas industry while the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL), established in 2000, administers and controls the rights, titles, and interests in oil and gas deposits and reserves in Liberian territory. NOCAL also facilitates the development of the oil and gas industry in Liberia and is mandated to grant exploration licences and negotiate all petroleum contracts. The Hydrocarbons Law is the New Oil & Gas Law of Liberia enacted in 2002. The Petroleum Law has only been partially implemented and local content provisions have not been enforced in the first two bidding rounds, primarily because there are no guidelines to implement them. The fiscal regime specific for Oil & Gas companies is set out in the LRC from section 740 to section 799. The main taxes paid by an Oil & Gas company are: tax on taxable income, royalties, surface rental and Signature Fees / Signing Bonus.

The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) is responsible for the leadership and overall development of the agriculture sector. There is no specific legal framework governing the agriculture sector. The fiscal regime specific for agricultural companies is set out in the LRC from section 600 to section 699. The main taxes paid by an agricultural company are: tax on taxable income and surface rental.

The National Forestry Reform Law (2006) governs the forestry sector and the licenses granted. The main taxes paid by a forestry company are tax on taxable income and surface rental.

As per the 2009 LEITI Act, all contracts in Liberia are public and posted on the LEITI website.

License registry 

The Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy grants a prospecting license to eligible applicants if the application is compliant with the requirements set out in the law or regulations.

With agricultural concessions, the Ministry of Agriculture works closely with the National Investment Commission (NIC) in the identification of investors interested in investing in the sector. Once an investor has been identified, the President of Liberia, at the request of NIC, establishes an Inter-Ministerial Concession Committee (IMCC) to review, negotiate and present a Concession Agreement for approval and signing by the President and ratification by the Honourable Legislature.

Top licensees include: ArcelorMittal, ExxonMobile, Chevron, Anandarko Liberia, Repsol,China Union, Putu Iron Ore, Western Cluster Ltd, Equatorial Palm Oil, Golden Veroleum, Firestone Plantation Co etc.

Beneficial ownership disclosure

Progress on implementing beneficial ownership disclosure 

Liberia took part in the beneficial ownership pilot and attempted to obtain beneficial ownership information for active concessions as well changes in ownership in the period 2009-2011. Although several companies responded, declaring both shareholders as well as natural persons as their owners, the beneficial ownership report (annexes) does not confirm whether the natural persons disclosed were also the beneficial owners. The report includes several recommendations for improving beneficial ownership disclosure in the future.

Liberia's evaluation report from the beneficial ownership pilot explained that access to funding and obtaining information from companies were the major challenges. Liberia had agreed to include sub-contractors in its definition of beneficial owners, which proved difficult to obtain.  Prior to commencing the work on beneficial ownership, LEITI also prepared an inception report outlining the agreed definition of beneficial ownership and scope of companies covered. 

In 2018, Liberia EITI plans to, among other things, organize consultation meetings to consider the optimal institutional framework for beneficial ownership disclosure. Read Liberia's beneficial ownership roadmap below for more information.

Liberia EITI beneficial ownership roadmap
From reports to reform in Liberia: Recommendation on beneficial ownership disclosure
Trust is the greatest asset a country can have. Liberia EITI represents an important step in advancing our efforts to engage with stakeholders, to talk about our resources, and to build trust in our communities
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Former President of Liberia

Production

Since 2010 Liberia has made significant progress in reviving the mining sector, which before 1990 had contributed more than 65% of the country’s export earnings and represented about 25% of the country’s GDP.

According to the 2017 - 2018 LEITI Report, iron ore was the main commodity produced in 2017/18, with a production volume of about 3.8 million Mt with the most prodcution increased of 172% from about 1.44 million Mt in 2016/2017. Gold production increased by 48% from 125,251Oz in 2016/17 to 185,688 Oz  in 2017/18. Other production include logs with 298,622 m3 and rubber with 27.3 thousand Mt.

During the 2016/17 and 2017/18 financial years, there were two operators (Chevron and Exxon Mobil) in the country working through petroleum agreements with NOCAL. These companies are carrying out exploration activities and until now there has been no production of Oil & Gas in the Liberian Basin. 

Natural resources

Liberia is rich in natural resources, notably iron ore, diamonds, gold, timber and rubber. Liberia’s undeveloped mineral resources included base metals, such as cobalt, lead, manganese, nickel, and tin, and industrial minerals, such as dolorite, granite, ilmenite, kyanite, phosphate rock, rutile, silica sand, and sulfur.

CommodityReservesUnitSignificance
OilSurveys have established the presence of essential petroleum factors in the Liberian Basin. However, until now, there has been no production of oil in the Liberian Basin.
Gold9.5 (grade 2.1 g/t) at Ndablama and Weajumetric tonsCommercial gold reserves have also been established at the New Liberty gold mine.
Iron Ore 996metric tonnesA Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) compliant study completed in 2012 confirmed the noted reserves of iron ore.

Revenue collection

Direct Government Revenues from the extractive sector increased from USD 47.74 million for the FY16/17  to USD 61.44 million for the FY17/18 . Total revenue generated from the extractive industries after reconciliation work totaled USD 53.6 million. Extractive revenues represent 6.6% of Liberia Real GDP in 2017/18 FY. The analysis of Government revenues by sector contribution indicates that the Mining sector contributed 41.3% of the total Government revenues from the extractives sector during the 2017/18 financial year.

More data available on Liberia’s natural resources

Initializing chart.

Reconciled revenues by top 5 companies

Revenue allocation

The LRA Act, section 26, states that the revenue collected by the LRA shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund. Hence, revenues from the extractive sectors are not earmarked for specific spending or regions in Liberia. The only exceptions are the company CSR contributions.

Policy recommendations and reforms

There is much public information about existing contracts and concessions in Liberia, although there are less available details on the licensing processes and procedures for allocating these contracts and licenses. A Post Award Process Audit conducted by LEITI in 2013 found that only 10% of the contracts awarded in the period between July 2009 and December 2011 were in compliance with the applicable rules. In light of these findings, LEITI's report covering the fiscal year 2012/13 found that more information on licensing processes could help to ensure that these are made in accordance with the legal frameworks. In December 2016, a Post Award Process Audit II for the period 2 January 2012 to 30 June 2015 was published. 

The 2017 - 2018 report highlights a number of reforms that the Liberian Government has advanced in order to improve public financial management.Prominent amongst the institutional reforms undertaken are:

  • Enactment of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) and Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) Acts
  • A rollout of Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) to 19 government Ministries and Agencies
  • Development and implementation of the Human Resources (HR) management module at the Civil Service Agency for personnel management and payroll processing
  • Completion, approval and subsequent implementation of the Medium Term Debt Strategy (MTDS) for prudent debt management
  • Establishment of effective internal audit functions in 37 Ministries and Agencies
  • Completion of the review of the backlog of audit reports by the Public Account Committee
  • Deployment of Standard Integrated Government Tax Administration System (SIGTAS) in the small, medium and large tax units to strengthen tax compliance.
Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Post Award Process Audit II

Innovations

The EITI encourages multi-stakeholder groups to explore innovative approaches to make the EITI more relevant and useful.

Implementation

Liberia has an impressive record of EITI implementation and has been using the process innovatively to investigate such key areas of concern – particularly whether contracts were allocated correctly, but also whether companies paid what they owed and whether earmarked funding went where it should. However, these efforts were only marginally successful in answering those broad questions since other data collection systems are weak.

The EITI Board decided on 4 September 2018 that Liberia was suspended due to lack of publishing its 2015/16 report in accordance with provision 8.2 of the Standard. The EITI further on 3 June 2019 reaffirmed Liberia’s temporary suspension as a result of a review carried out by the International Secretariat which identified significant breaches related to multi-stakeholder group oversight (Requirement 1).

The Board agreed to lift Liberia’s temporary suspension effective 6 March 2020 as a result of improvement in implementation related to multi-stakeholder group (MSG) oversight (Requirement 1) and the publication of outstanding EITI Reports.  Liberia has demonstrated considerable progress in addressing gaps identified in the review of Requirement 1. Also, within a short timeframe, the Government of Liberia has demonstrated its full commitment to the EITI process, which has led to the restoration of the credibility of Liberia EITI.

Governance 

Liberia’s EITI is governed by the 2009 LEITI Act and its regulations. See MSG policy manual, five-year strategic plan for FY2017/18 to FY2019/20, communications strategy, and LEITI operations manual for more information.

Chairman of the MSG

  • Hon. C. Mike Doryen, Forestry Development Authority

National Coordinator

  • Jeffrey Yates

Timeline

Flexible reporting

Recognising the ongoing challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the EITI Board agreed the extension of measures to provide flexibility in EITI implementation and reporting.

Flexible EITI reporting MSGs may prepare reports based on information disclosed by government and/or companies, subject to MSG endorsement and providing that the flexible reporting requirements are met.

Liberia is preparing its 2019 report using the flexible reporting approach. The report will provide relevant information on sector developments and industry outlooks in light of Covid-19 and the commodity price downturn. The report will further focus on the impact of Covid 19 on production, export and the oil and gas licensing round of 2020.

Read more about flexible reporting

Validation

Liberia's Validation against the 2016 Standard commenced on 1 July 2016. Liberia was found to have achieved meaningful progress in implementing the EITI Standard on 24 May 2017. 

Liberia's second validation is scheduled for 24 November 2018. On 28 June 2018, Liberia submitted a request for an extension of the commencement of the second Validation. The Board decided on 4 September 2018 that Liberia is ineligible for a Validation deadline extension. Liberia's progress by requirement can be found in the scorecard below. 

Liberia's next Validation is scheduled to commence on 1 July 2021 in accordance with the revised Validation schedule (Decision 2020-92/BC-300).

View Board decision, including corrective actions
Documentation: Validation Report and initial assessment
News item on the Validation result
Country statuses explained

Liberia's progress by requirement

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EITI Reports and other key documents

LIBERIA 2017 - 2018 Report

Published Date: 
December, 2019

The Liberia  2017-2018 report reconciled payments made by the extractive companies and revenues received by the government of Liberia in  2016 -2017 and 2017 - 2018 fiscal years. The report covers the mining, oil and gas, forestry and agriculture sectors in Liberia as well as registers of licenses; exploration, production and exports; beneficial ownership; contract transparency; state participation in the extractive sector; revenue collection and allocation; and social and economic spending

Read more

LIBERIA 2015 - 2016 EITI REPORT

Published Date: 
January, 2019

Liberia published its EITI report on 7 January 2019. The Report covers Liberia's Extractive Sector from June 2015 to July 2016.

Read more

Validation of Liberia 2016 - reports

Published Date: 
April, 2017
Publisher: 
EITI International Secretariat

Liberia's Validation commenced on 1 July 2016. On 24 May 2017, the EITI Board found that Liberia has made meaningful progress in implementing the 2016 EITI Standard. 

The following documentation laid the basis for the Board's decision, attached below:

Report on initial data collection by the International SecretariatLiberia EITI multi-stakholder group's response to the initial data collection

Read more
View all documents related to Liberia in our publications library

International Secretariat

Murjana Gamawa

Murjanatu Ibrahim Gamawa

murjana.gamawa
Country Manager
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Ines Schjolberg Marques

Inês Schjølberg Marques

ines.schjolberg.marques
Policy Director
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