Investing in Sierra Leone
In recent years, attempts have been made to:
(i) Increase the capacity of the professional wing of the Ministry of Trade and Industry and its role in coordinating all trade and business matters across the economy.
(ii) Make SLIEPA more functional and proactive in the promotion of investment and export opportunities
(iii) Reduce interest rates to promote agriculture and small-scale business operations and the general development of the private sector.
(iv) Promote PPPs in the provision of public services.
The MTNDP sets out a growth agenda, which aims to develop a value-added export sector. The GoSL is currently developing a National Trade and Investment Strategy, which will set out further details on this, along with its other investment-related goals and broader strategic vision to make Sierra Leone Africa’s first Zero-Carbon middle-income economy by 2040, with competitive advantages in key sectors such as renewable energy, eco-tourism and organic farming. In March 2019, supported by the UN Economic Commission for Africa, an Inception Report on “Developing a National Trade & Investment Strategy to Support Economic Diversification, Competitiveness & Continental Integration” was published. This is the first deliverable of the Ministry of Trade and Industry in its project to design a National Trade and Investment Strategy geared towards “promoting and developing a robust and competitive private sector via a transparent trade regime; building capacity and infrastructure to increase participation in global trade; competitiveness; consumer protection; aid-for-trade (AfT) capacity; private investment, and migrant remittances”