*FINANCE MINISTER OPTIMISTIC THAT BETTER DAYS LIE AHEAD*
The Minister of Finance, Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura, has emphasised that the government created the Mineral Wealth Fund (MWF) to serve as a significant driver for economic growth and sustainable development.
In a snap intervuew with the Minister of Finance, he confidently assured Sierra Leoneans that they as a government are very optimistic about turning things around with such strategic arrangement.
Mr. Sheku Fantamandi Bangura reiterated that the creation of the MWF is an indication of His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio’s commitment to optimising mineral resources to benefit the citizens, adding that the establishment of MWF is a strategic move towards sustainable resource management to ensure Sierra Leone’s mineral wealth translates into tangible prosperity and progress for the citizens.
According to the Finance Minister, the initiative was centred on learning from global mineral wealth funds’ successes and understanding their investment strategies, noting that they are working assiduously to ensure that the government is fully involved in the mineral sector. “No amount of misinformation, libel or slander can force the government to drop its strategic policy in the mining sector, and we must ensure that our country benefits from its mineral wealth,” Minister Bangura fumed.
He lamented that while the government has been getting an outrageous pittance from the exhortation of minerals in the last six years, it has therefore established the Sierra Leone Mines and Minerals Development and Management Corporation (SLMMDMC) to follow the financial and commercial interests of the State in the mining sector.
Mr. Bangura stressed that the essence of SLMMDMC is to act as a holding company for the MWF, which is managed by the Company’s Act of Sierra Leone, emphasising that the government structured it that way because they wanted the corporation to be off the balance sheet of the treasury.
The no-nobsense Minister debunked claims that the corporation has put additional pressure on the tight fiscal resources of the government.
He reiterated that the MWF would protect the state’s interest in the mobilisation of resources in the mining sector. “Our country is sitting on trillion dollars of wealth, and as a government, we are ready to do the needful in the interests of the citizens,” Mr. Bangura concluded.
Courtesy : COCORIOKO WHATSAPP FORUM
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