Sierra Leone: President Julius Maada Bio – putting public finance reform at the heart of his governance
When Julius Maada Bio assumed the presidency of Sierra Leone in 2018, he inherited a state marked by years of corruption and massive embezzlement of public funds a legacy that had deeply eroded the trust of both citizens and international partners in the country’s institutions.
From the very start of his tenure, the Head of State made the cleansing of public management one of the structuring priorities of his mandate.
One of the first strong measures of his administration was the support for amending the 2008 anti-corruption law, with the adoption in 2019 of the Anti-Corruption Amendment Act a text that considerably strengthened the powers of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
This move, hailed as a rare demonstration of political will in a country where corruption was sometimes perceived as ingrained in the political culture, marked an institutional turning point.
This commitment continued with the adoption of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) 2023-2027, whose stated objective is to build an ethical, accountable nation with zero tolerance for corruption.
On the macroeconomic front, this institutional rigor has translated into concrete results, commended by the International Monetary Fund itself.
During a mission carried out in late April 2026, the IMF congratulated President Bio and his administration on the progress made in stabilizing the country’s economy, notably the reduction of inflation, the lowering of public borrowing costs, and improved private sector access to credit.
The Head of State himself indicated that the country had met two of the three quantitative performance criteria under the Extended Credit Facility-supported program by the end of December 2025, and all indicative targets by the end of March 2026 – the result of deliberate fiscal discipline and prudent macroeconomic management.
This recovery trajectory is accompanied by a constant concern for credibility vis-à-vis external partners – the World Bank, the European Union, the African Development Bank which the President considers essential to maintaining international confidence.
From a country long associated with mismanagement of public funds, Julius Maada Bio’s Sierra Leone is thus striving to present itself as an example of gradual institutional recovery, where fiscal consolidation and the fight against corruption advance together.
Souley KAMALDINE
