Liberia: The Stronger Liberian Dollar Must Reach the Market

The exchange rate has moved from about L$190 to L$170 for US$1, but small traders say wholesalers still convert their purchases at the old rate. The government must establish what is happening, enforce transparent pricing and end a silence that is feeding confusion and resentment.

A stronger Liberian dollar means little to ordinary people if its gains stop at the Central Bank’s exchange rate board and never reach the wholesale counter.

Small traders in Monrovia say that is what is happening. The…