By Alphonso Toweh
MONROVIA (Reuters) - Liberia is in talks with China over debt relief and expects to return to economic growth this year of 3.2% after an estimated 3% contraction in 2020 due to the coronavirus crisis, Finance Minister Samuel Tweah told Reuters on Thursday.
Tweah said he had feared the worst when the pandemic struck last year, since the West African nation's economy was already fragile partly due to the winding down of some foreign aid flows after a 2014-16 Ebola outbreak.
"We thought the economy would have collapsed, but it did not happen," he said in an interview. "That suggests strong resilience. We are optimistic."
In the longer term, the authorities have high hopes for the country's rubber industry and plans to develop the sugar manufacturing sector, he said.
External assistance, including International Monetary Fund debt relief and a $50 million rapid loan last June, have helped the government respond to the health crisis in a country where more than half of the population of around 5 million live in poverty.
Discussions are also ongoing with China about options for debt relief, Tweah said, without giving further details.
As of end-2020, Liberia's debt to China amounted to $54 million out of its total external public debt of around $1.2 billion, according to the IMF.
Like many other developing countries, Liberia, does not have the resources to buy coronavirus vaccines for itself and is waiting for disbursements under a global scheme even as vaccination campaigns in richer nations are well under way.
Tweah said Liberia would receive 190,000 vaccine doses soon, around 20% of which would arrive in a first tranche.
It has reported 1,956 coronavirus cases and 84 deaths since the pandemic began.
(Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Bate Felix and Alexandra Hudson)