Sierra Leone is a small, fragile,post-conflict state on the coast of West Africa. As aconsequence, Sierra Leone was one of the largestbeneficiaries of foreign aid as a share of gross domesticproduct (GDP) and aid per capita. Projects focusing onreconstruction of basic infrastructure and oncapacity-building for reestablishment of core governmentfunctions featured prominently in the government'sdevelopment budget. The post-conflict infrastructure gap wasquite large. As peace was consolidated, the level ofexternal assistance has gradually declined from 15.5 percentof GDP in 2002 to 5.2 percent of GDP in 2008 as donorsphased out their post-conflict allocations and the nation sGDP expanded rapidly. Looking ahead, the government seeks torestore a high rate of real growth and poverty reductionthrough increased public and private investment. Thegovernment does not operate a capital investment budget;rather it maintains a development budget that seeks torecord most externally financed projects, governmentcontributions to those projects, and expenditures on thegovernment's own projects. This case study is based onwork done for the 2009-10 public expenditure review.
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
