F Follow the Money LIB Share something
The budget · fiscal year 2026

Liberia will spend $1.2 billion this year. Here’s what it was set aside for.

Five sectors take most of the budget. Two of them get less than Liberia promised in agreements it signed years ago. Those promises are the yardstick below — not our opinion of what the right number would be.

What does this office actually do? (the Legislature)
The Legislature (Senate & House of Representatives) — Liberia’s bicameral national legislature, responsible for passing laws, approving the national budget, and providing oversight of the executive branch.
For example: The Senate’s July 2026 probe into concession funds not reaching Grand Cape Mount is legislative oversight in action.
What does this office actually do? (Ministry of Finance)
Ministry of Finance & Development Planning (MFDP) — Sets and manages the national budget, plans and finances development projects, and oversees public revenue and spending.
For example: Preparing and publishing the annual national budget, like the FY2026 budget this site tracks.

Status: approved by the Legislature  |  Checked: 3 August 2026  |  Source: mfdp.gov.lr ↗

Sector by sector

The dotted line is the target Liberia agreed to.
Security $151.8M · 12.7% of the budget
What is inside this $151.8M?
Reported, draft figures
Liberia National Police$25.7 million
National Security Agency$22.2 million
Ministry of National Defense$20.7 million
Liberia Immigration Service$10.7 million
Drug Enforcement Agency$7.6 million
National Fire Service$2.9 million
Named in the reporting$89.8 million
Not itemized in what we foundabout $62 million
The sector total minus the six named agencies. Coverage mentions the Ministry of Justice, immigration modernization and prison renovations without dollar figures. An open question, not a finding of wrongdoing.

Agency lines come from reporting on the draft budget in November 2025. The sector total is the figure shown above. Draft and approved numbers can differ.

Source: allAfrica ↗ · Liberian Observer ↗

Education $132.9M · 11.1% of the budget
Short of the promise by about 4 cents in every dollar of spendingIncheon Declaration: 15–20%
What is inside this $132.9M?
Reported, draft figures
University of LiberiaUp from $30.6 million in FY2025. The approved budget is reported at $40.5 million.about $40.4 million
Monrovia Consolidated School SystemUp from $4 million.$7.2 million
Grand Kru Community CollegeUp from $605,000.$1.39 million
Early Childhood EducationReported by one outlet.$20,000
Named in the reportingabout $49.0 million
Not itemized in what we foundabout $83.9 million
Everything else in the sector, including the Ministry of Education’s own lines. We have not found these published line by line.

The University of Liberia and school system figures appear in more than one outlet. The Early Childhood Education line comes from one outlet. One news report gives the education total as $123.98 million rather than $132.9 million, so treat the remainder as approximate.

Source: Liberian Observer via allAfrica ↗ · FrontPageAfrica via allAfrica ↗ · Local Voices Liberia ↗

Health $101.7M · 8.4% of the budget
A little over half of what Liberia promised for healthAbuja Declaration: 15%
What is inside this $101.7M?
Reported, one outlet, draft figures
John F. Kennedy Medical Center$9.1 million
Jackson F. Doe Hospital$3.6 million
Phebe Hospital$2.07 million
Named in the reporting$14.77 million
Not itemized in what we foundabout $86.9 million
Everything outside these three hospitals. Reporting also mentions an $11.95 million allocation from a mining signature bonus for hospital and rural facility upgrades. We have not confirmed whether it sits inside the $101.7 million.

The hospital lines come from one report, so we label them reported, not confirmed. We are looking for the Ministry of Health’s own itemized lines.

Source: FrontPageAfrica via allAfrica ↗ · Liberian Observer ↗

The Legislature $51.7M · 4.3% of the budget

Up 25% since 2024, and about half the size of the health budget.

What is inside this $51.7M?
Reported, one original report, draft figures
House of Representatives$31,046,749
Senate$16,440,876
Speaker’s Office$1,848,000
Deputy Speaker’s Office$1,415,839
Pro Tempore’s Office$958,926
Total of the five lines$51,710,390

The same reporting says $14.6 million is travel, goods and services and $3.6 million is Capitol renovation, and that the total is up from $41.3 million in 2024. The five lines add up to the total shown above.

Source: FrontPageAfrica via allAfrica ↗

Agriculture $13.7M · 1.1% of the budget
What is inside this $13.7M?
Reported, draft figures
Ministry of Agriculture$9,545,326
Other agencies in the sector$4,118,517
The sector total minus the ministry’s own figure. We have not found which agencies receive it or how much each gets.

A public claim treated the sector total as the ministry’s budget until a fact-check separated them. A second fact-check reports the sector grew to roughly $14.9 million in the approved budget. That comes from one outlet, so we label it reported.

Source: Dubawa ↗ · Local Voices Liberia ↗

Bars show each sector’s share of the full $1.2 billion. Source: Ministry of Finance, approved FY2026 national budget ↗

Below a promise Liberia signed

Health spending is about half of the Abuja target

In 2001 Liberia and other African Union states signed the Abuja Declaration, agreeing to put 15% of the national budget into health. This year’s allocation is reported at 8.4%. Liberian health practitioners and development partners have already raised it publicly.

Source: allAfrica ↗ · Abuja Declaration, 2001 ↗

Below a promise Liberia signed

Education is below the Incheon floor

The 2015 Incheon Declaration recommends 15 to 20% of public spending go to education. $132.9M out of $1.2 billion works out to about 11.1%. That percentage comes from the two figures above, nothing else.

Source: MFDP FY2026 budget ↗ · Incheon Declaration, 2015 ↗

Not yet public

Nobody has published what these totals are actually spent on

The Ministry of Finance publishes each sector’s total, but not the split between salaries, supplies, buildings and administration. Without that, there is no way to check whether the money reached a clinic, a classroom or a checkpoint.

One of the 14 open cases. Responsible: Ministry of Finance.

What does this office actually do?
Ministry of Finance & Development Planning (MFDP) — Sets and manages the national budget, plans and finances development projects, and oversees public revenue and spending.
For example: Preparing and publishing the annual national budget, like the FY2026 budget this site tracks.

Follow this case →