CGD senior fellow Steve Radelet, who is serving as an advisor to the president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, writes movingly about progress and problems as the country strives to recover from a 14-year civil war in which one out of every 12 Liberians were killed. Liberia also faces a $4.5 billion foreign debt, mostly interest and penalties from loans extended in the 1980s, before the war began. The IMF board has been debating for a year what to do about it. Although a solution seems to be at hand, it isn’t done yet. Radelet suggests readers write to the new managing director of the IMF urging prompt action to resolve Liberia’s debt crisis.
