US$213M Domestic Revenue Under Boakai — A Misleading Claim?

 Claim: "Liberia's domestic revenue grew by US$213 million in two years under the Boakai administration, compared with a US$160 million increase over six years under the Weah-led Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) administration."

Source: Emmanuel K. Barnes, Assistant Minister of Labour for Planning and Manpower Development

Verdict: Misleading

Full Text: On January 6, 2026, Assistant Minister Barnes made a bold statement during OKAY FM's Morning Rush program. Speaking between 1:38:32 and 1:38:46 of the 2:54:12 broadcast, he argued that President Joseph Boakai's administration had achieved better revenue performance than his predecessor, citing a US$213 million increase in just two years versus US$160 million over six years under former President George Weah.

It's worth noting that domestic revenue includes funds the government generates internally through taxes, customs duties, and fees, but excludes donor grants. The challenge with tracking this in Liberia is that fiscal reporting can vary from year to year and between institutions, particularly when it comes to whether special funds and other collections get counted.

Verification: The Stage Media Liberia dug into the Liberia Revenue Authority's annual reports and official fiscal data from both administrations to get to the bottom of this.

Looking back at the CDC years, the FY2017/2018 LRA annual report shows domestic revenue standing at US$427 million.

Fast forward to FY2022/2023, and that figure had climbed to about US$611.9 million. That's an increase of roughly US$160 million over six fiscal years under the CDC government.

Under President Boakai, revenue collection has continued its upward trend. The LRA 2024 Annual Report puts domestic revenue at about US$698.6 million for FY2023/2024. That's up from the US$611.9 million recorded in the CDC government's final full fiscal year, reflecting an increase of about US$86.7 million in one fiscal year.

Now, here's where things get interesting. On December 29, 2025, LRA Commissioner General Dorbor Jallah announced that Liberia's domestic revenue collections had hit approximately US$818 million. However, we could not independently verify this through official documentation since the final consolidated revenue report for FY2024/2025 won't be out until March 2026, as required by law.

Conclusion: Based on the audited LRA data, we can actually verify that domestic revenue increased by about US$160 million over six years under the Weah-led CDC administration. Under President Boakai, revenue has grown too, but the completed fiscal years with verified numbers only support an increase of about US$86-90 million so far.

The provisional figures do suggest higher collections, but these numbers have not been audited or officially published yet, so they can not back up the claim of a US$213 million increase within two years. Even if we use the reported US$818 million figure for 2025, the increase from the CDC's final audited year would be about US$206 million, not the US$213 million claimed.

That's why Stage Media Liberia finds this claim misleading.