FREETOWN — Sierra Leone has suspended a 10% tax on imported rice and cut the price of petroleum products in an attempt to avert civil unrest over the rising prices of basic necessities.
President Ernest Bai Koroma, speaking on national radio and television on Friday night, blamed the higher prices on external factors beyond the control of the impoverished West African nation, still recovering nine years after the end of civil war.
“Let me assure you, fellow citizens, that I also feel the pain,” Koroma said. “You are no doubt aware that the current problems are not home made, but are problems imposed upon us by external factors beyond our control,” he said. Civil society organisations had threatened nationwide strikes in protest against the rising cost of living.
— Reuters
