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an increase of logging activities. This, in turn, would have an
impact on employment opportunities, the diversification of the
economy as well as the Government's revenues.
The allocation of resources over the various sectors of the economy
is presented in Annex 23. The absence of any allocations for
Industry & Commerce is explained by the Government's reliance
upon foreign capital through its Open Door Policy. Officially the
objective was to .
"encourage industrialization by conti.nuati.on of x.h.e Upen
door Policy" (70).
The sectoral distribution of resources, presented by the
Government in its Four Year Development Plan, is however grossly
misleading in respect of the beneficiaries of the expenditures.
A thorough study of the Development Plan showed that only somewhat
over 30 per cent of the planned development expenditures was to
be spent in the rural areas of Liberia where over 85 per cent of
the population live. However, more than 50 per cent of this
amount, or f 17 million, was allocated for regional roads
linking the main cities. In fact, less than 15 per cent of the
total development budget was to benefit the rural population
directly (excluding expenditures for education which could not
be allocated to beneficiaries due to lack of specification).
Only 3 per cent of total planned expenditures was allocated for
the improvement and increase of the nation's rice production
though national self-sufficiency in rice had officially been
made the nation's number one agricultural priority (71).
Over f 48 million of total expenditures, or nearly 50 per cent,
was allocated for the urban population, constituting less than 15
per cent of the total population. Expenditures in Monrovia alone
- where about 125,000 Liberian lived - represented over 40 per
cent of total expenditures envisaged under the Plan.
Nearly 20 per cent of planned expenditures could not be specified
(column 5 in Table 40). Of this unspecified amount some $ 9
million was to be spent on Education. The designers of the Plan
had to abandon an attempt to introduce some planning in this
sector because of the inadequacy and the unreliability of the
available statistical data and the lack of an appropriate
breakdown of the budget of the (then called) Department of
Education. Therefore it was decided that the f 9 million would be
used to improve the quality of the existing educational system
and its facilities (72). Given the uneven distribution of
educational and health facilities in the Counties and Townships
this "educational policy" meant a favouring of the urban
population, in particular in Monrovia, over the rural
population of the country (see also Chapter 11).
The allocation of funds in the Health Sector as presented in
Table 40 clearly illustrates this assumption. Although hospitals
are located in County Capitals and clinics in the rural areas it
was taken into consideration that these hospitals also serve the
rural population. Because of this, and because of the lack of
specification, i?he amount of I 187,00 for the renovations of