President Ernest Bai Koroma has pledged to open up Sierra Leone to foreign business to try to unlock the potential of its mineral reserves and miles of pristine beaches after a civil war.
Six months after winning a closely contested election, the former insurance executive said foreign donors were showing renewed confidence and, with a little more time, the country could become a leading investment destination in West Africa.
"We are trying to restore confidence in our system. We are trying to improve on our investment opportunities, improve the economic environment, cut down on the barriers to business," Koroma told Reuters in an interview late on Monday.
A 1991-2002 civil war tore apart Sierra Leone's infrastructure, as rebel groups fought for control of its diamond fields. The conflict left commercial mines gutted and a fledgling tourist industry in ruins.
The polls which brought Koroma to power last September were the first since United Nations peacekeepers left the country. His pledges to tackle unemployment and graft - including a vow to imprison his own relatives if found guilty - struck a chord with legions of jobless youths and opened a new chapter in the country's relationship with its donors.
Britain - Sierra Leone's biggest bilateral provider of aid - has resumed direct budgetary support after suspending it last year over governance concerns. Koroma said the British government's development arm, DFID, had released 13 million pounds ($26.25 million) straight to the Sierra Leonean government earlier this year.
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank were also in discussions with the government about releasing direct budgetary support, officials said. "Most of the donors put a hold on their support to the budget ... We have made progress in that we now have the donors giving their support again," Koroma said, sat in his office in State House, dressed in a short-sleeved suit.
"This is an endorsement of what we have been doing." Sierra Leone's recent history is a sorry tale of war and mismanagement which has left it ranked as the least developed country on the planet, despite having the world's largest reserve of rutile - an ingredient in paint pigment - as well as diamonds, iron ore and gold.
In the 1980s more than 30,000 tourists visited a year, many of them checking into exclusive beachside hotels. Now, visitors have an unenviable choice to get from Lungi airport across the bay to Freetown: a dilapidated helicopter, a rusting ferry or a local wooden fishing boat.
While its economy is forecast to grow 7 percent this year - strong even by African standards - it is coming from a low base. More than 70 percent of its people live below the poverty line and it has the world's highest infant mortality rate.
"There is so much potential. What we are asking for is just time," Koroma said. His government has made the energy sector its priority, particularly restoring the distribution network. Most businesses and wealthy residents in Freetown run small generators, providing a living for repairmen and youths who siphon off the diesel to resell on the street, but doing little to inspire confidence for potential investors.
"We are focusing on energy because we believe it will ... provide the basis for a turnaround," he said. For all his grand visions for Sierra Leone's future, Koroma says he wants to keep his feet on the ground. He will soon begin monthly television and radio broadcasts in the local Krio dialect to update people on the government's progress. "It's hands on. I try to simplify the systems, the procedures, the approach," he said. "I want to stay in touch with the people.
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