Liberia Tells African Tax Chiefs in Cairo That Home-Grown Revenue Is Replacing Aid Dependence

Jallah said that when the current management team took charge in 2023, collections stood at roughly US$612 million. Donor funding was shrinking, and both the national domestic revenue mobilization strategy and the LRA’s own corporate plan had lapsed

Cairo, Egypt – Liberia used a continental stage this week to argue that it is steadily moving from reliance on foreign aid toward funding its own development. At the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) 2026 Annual Meetings and General Assembly in Cairo, Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) Commissioner General James Dorbor Jallah presented the country’s recent fiscal record and its plans for modernizing tax collection.

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By Selma Lomax, [email protected]

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He spoke during a session titled “Domestic Resource Mobilisation: Differentiated Pathways for a Diverse Continent,” where he shared how Liberia’s revenue authority has changed direction in the past few years.

From US$612 Million to Over a Billion

Jallah said that when the current management team took charge in 2023, collections stood at roughly US$612 million. Donor funding was shrinking, and both the national domestic revenue mobilization strategy and the LRA’s own corporate plan had lapsed.

Since then, he reported, collections climbed to US$699 million in 2024 and US$848 million in 2025. The current figure is about US$1.134 billion. Adding US$5 million brought forward from the prior fiscal year, he said, the total comes to approximately US$1.139 billion.

In his view, the numbers show that Liberia can increasingly pay for its own priorities, a notable shift for a country that has depended heavily on outside support for many years.

A Reform Agenda Built on Five Pillars

Jallah told delegates that the LRA’s transformation rests on five pillars: strategic leadership, technology and data, compliance and enforcement, customs and tax administration, and institutional integrity. Together, he said, they are meant to sharpen performance, raise collections, tighten enforcement and make the revenue system more answerable to the public.

On integrity, he revealed that 46 LRA employees were dismissed in 2025 for fraud and related misconduct. He described this as proof of the Authority’s refusal to tolerate corruption, and argued that a clean institution earns public trust, which in turn encourages taxpayers to comply willingly.

Putting the Numbers in Citizens’ Hands

Delegates also saw the LRA’s public revenue dashboard, an online tool through which citizens and other interested parties can view how much government is collecting. Visitors can track reported performance and download tables with monthly summaries, as well as figures broken down by revenue category and tax type.

According to Jallah, the platform currently refreshes in near-real time, and the Authority is working toward fully real-time updates. He said that giving people easy access to collection data helps them follow the revenue picture and understand how the country raises money at home.

The dashboard is one element of a wider transparency drive that also includes expanding electronic payment options and other online services.

Meet Fatu: The Virtual Taxpayer Assistant

The presentation also featured a live demonstration of the LRA’s virtual contact center, a project aimed at shortening the wait for answers to taxpayer questions and easing confusion about what people owe.

The virtual assistant, called Fatu, handled a mock query from a small business owner who wanted to know which taxes applied to them. The exercise showed how the service could put tax guidance within easier reach and give taxpayers another route to assistance.

Once fully built and running, the center is expected to support taxpayer education and allow individuals and companies to get advice without traveling to an LRA office.

More Than a Collections Story

Jallah stressed that raising more money is only part of the job. Lasting domestic resource mobilization, he said, also requires institutional reform, openness, accountability, engagement with taxpayers and dependable service.

He noted ongoing work to modernize tax administration and make compliance simpler for small enterprises, while keeping operations running smoothly as systems go digital. He concluded by restating the LRA’s goal of becoming a transparent, accountable and technology-driven institution able to underpin Liberia’s long-term growth.

Who Else Was on the Panel

The session gathered tax officials and academic experts to discuss how African states can boost domestic revenue under varying economic and institutional conditions.

Joining Jallah were Rasha Abdel Aal, Head of the Egyptian Tax Authority; Leonildo Joao Lourenco Manuel, President of the Board of Directors of Angola’s General Tax Authority; Yankuba Darboe, Commissioner General of the Gambia Revenue Authority; Rohit Ramnawaz, Director-General of the Mauritius Revenue Authority; and Richard Stern, Director of the Global Tax Program at Vienna University.

Participants explored the realities facing economies with large informal sectors, newly formalizing markets, rapid digital growth and abundant natural resources. They agreed that reform plans should reflect each country’s economic circumstances, development goals and institutional strength instead of following a single template for the whole continent.