The_Open_Door_deel1

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The Plan which was approved by President Tubman was never
implemented. Among the main causes of this failure was the
Government's inability to maintain public capital formation at
the planned level despite increases in domestic revenues- The
growth of domestic revenues, however, was less than the growth
of current expenditures and notably the increase in debt
servicing. With the rescheduling of the public debt in 1963 it
had been agreed that accelerated debt repayments would start as
from 1969, providing temporary relief during the 1963 - 1969
period. The large debt servicing in 1969 even resulted in a
negative foreign aid situation. In other words, there was a net
flow of money out of Liberia despite the substantial increase
of public foreign assistance to Liberia during the second half
of the 1960's. Table 42 shows these developments in detail-
However, the year I969 also showed a remarkably positive
achievement as current expenditures (including substantial debt
service payments) were for the first time in years lower than
domestic revenues (74)- This was achieved at the expense of the
long-term goal of improving the nation's productive capacity. The
little which was achieved during the sixties was mainly realized
thanks to the (financial and technical) assistance which foreign
governments had provided.
As a matter of fact, the major part of Liberia's development has
been financed with foreign assistance (75). Domestic revenues of
the Liberian Government, including the revenues from foreign
concessions, merely served the purpose of financing the current
operations of the Government and providing funds to support the
development expenditures of friendly foreign governments which
were assisting Liberia in its development efforts. Their
contribution usually financed the much needed capital formation
and sometimes part of the associated recurrent expenditures"
(see also Table 48, "Capital Formation By Source of Finance
1964 - 1977"). The remaining recurrent expenditure was born by
the Liberian Government.
The 19 76 - 19 80 Development Plan
The 1970's brought changes, albeit superficial ones, but in
retrospect they may prove to be substantial departures from
traditional policies. Certainly the language used by President
Tolbert and his co-workers sounds more "involved" than his
predecessor's though ,one would need facts to substantiate this
conclusion. Already at the end of the 1960's the Secretary of
the Department of Planning and Economic Affairs, Cyril Bright,
had complained that the Gross Domestic Product continued to
grow faster than the Gross National Product (76). This
constituted an indirect criticism of the Open Door Policy.
After Tolbert had succeeded Tubman, the newly appointed Minister
of Planning and Economic Affairs, David F. Neal, in his first
annual report stated that: