The_Open_Door_deel1

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In Liberia the dearth of data for the years prior to 1964 is
appalling and though an improvement is visible for the ensuing
period it still leaves much to be desired. Climatologic
conditions as well as a lack of trained manpower convinced of
both the need and usefulness of proper filing systems and
archives, and their maintenance, plus a government which does not
seem to have cared much about changing this situation (2) and -
judging from the budgetary appropriations for Archives and the
training of personnel - has made it an impossibility to prepare
for Liberia series of data which cover a period longer than 15
years. Exceptions to this rule are general statistics on
Government revenues and expenditures, on imports and exports and
a few other items of a general nature.
All existing and - in the short term - uncontrollable difficulties
are further aggravated by the frequent and totally haphazard
changes in the Fiscal Year which create reporting periods
that are not comparable and make any attempt at analysis an optimistic
venture. In 1929 the legislature had decreed that beginning
in 1930 the Fiscal Year would coincide with the Calendar
Year. The Treasury Department, however, continued to report to
the National Legislature on the basis of the Legislative Year
which started in October. During the 194O's and 195O's the Treasury
Department used Fiscal Years which in some years ran from
September 1 of the previous (calendar) year to August 31. In
other years the Fiscal Year ran from October 1 to September 30.
Occasionally the reporting period year coincided with the calendar
year, e.g. in 1951,
There also existed differences in reporting periods used Dy tne
various Government agencies and Departments, In the 1940 's and
1950's the Bureau of the Budget used Fiscal Years which started
on January 1 and ended on December 31. The reporting periods for
the Nine Year Development Plan (1951 - 1960) ran from July 1 to
June 30, When William Tolbert Jr. succeeded President Tubman he
changed the reporting period (which ran from October 1 to
September 30) to the Calender Year. Consequently, when
submitting in 1973 their Annual Reports (over 1972) several
government institutions did not cover the last quarter of 1971.
This phenpmenon was repeated when in 1976 the reporting period
and the Fiscal Year were again revised to cover the period from
July 1 to June 30.
While data with respect to government revenues and expenditures
are hard to obtain, if at all available, the absence of any
consistency in different reports renders them unreliable. This
questionable reliability is further reduced by the incompetence
and carelessness of the civil servants who were responsible for
the compilation of reports, by manipulations for political
reasons, and by chronic corruption at all levels and in all
sectors of the economy and society.
Despite this inaccuracy and unreliability of the available data
a certain trend is distinguishable with respect to composition
and total size of Government revenues and size and direction of