|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Claim: Deputy Finance Minister for Economic Management, Dephue Y. Zuo has alleged that the immediate past administration, Coalition for Democratic Change, met the country’s inflation rate at 12%.
Verdict: False! Liberia’s former ruling government did not inherit a 12% inflation rate. In January 2018, when the CDC government assumed power, economic data from the Central Bank of Liberia revealed the country’s inflation rate was 15.4%.
Full Text
Deputy Finance Minister for Economic Management, Dephue Y. Zuo, claimed that the former government met the country’s inflation rate at 12%.
The former CDC government, headed by football legend George Manneh Weah, assumed power in January 2018 and handed over to the current Unity Party government in January 2024.
Deputy Minister Zuo claimed 2:08:11 when he appeared on an online show dubbed “Class Reloaded”.
He made the claim while contributing to a debate on inflation figures and other macroeconomic indicators.
The show generated 16,000 comments, 486 likes, and 395 shares.
DUBAWA, the fact-checking arm of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), decided to verify the claim as part of a mandate to promote truth in public discourse.
Verification
Our researcher reviewed statistical data from the Central Bank of Liberia’s official page, covering October 2017 to January 2018.
The data on page eight shows that by November 2017, the inflation rate was 13.1%, and by December 2017, it had risen to 13.9%.
In January 2018, before the inauguration of the CDC government, the Central Bank of Liberia reported an inflation rate of 15.4%.
Conclusion
Based on credible economic data from the Central Bank of Liberia, the government’s monetary arm, Deputy Finance Minister Dephue Y. Zuo’s claim is false.
