The_Open_Door_deel1

In spite of this apparent success of the Open Door Policy, some
questions arise of which the most important are:
- Did the Liberian Government succeed in using the foreign investments
to promote the economic development of, particularly, the
Liberian hinterland as one of Liberia's Presidents had imagined
at the beginning of the present century?
- What has been realised of the Liberian Government's desire to
share equally with, the foreign investors in the profits of
their investments?
- Has the Liberian Government been capable in dealing with the
foreign investors who often had more political power and more
financial means than the Republic?
In this dissertation, the present author has analysed the capacity
of the Liberian Government to effectively deal with the foreign
investors and to supervise the resulting investments. Furthermore,
the financial assistance of foreign companies to the
Liberian Treasury and the use of these financial means by the
Liberian Government are analysed. The consequences for the Liberian
economy and society of the activities of foreign investors
have also been studied. It must be mentioned that this dissertation
has been realised after a four year residence in Liberia
(from 1975 to 1979) which enabled this author to benefit from rer
trieving unique material from the National Archives and from the
archives and libraries of different Ministries in Monrovia, particularly
those of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of
Planning and Economic Affairs. Furthermore, visits to foreign
companies active in Liberia and numerous conversations with
Liberians of all classes have contributed to the accomplishment
of this thesis.
At the time of the introduction of the Open Door Policy, Liberia
was characterised by a shortage of skilled labour, the lack of institutions
which could check upon or supervise the arriving multinationals
and an underestimation at the government level of the
necessity to integrate all fore_ign investments in one overall
development policy. Liberia did not escape from some of the negative
consequences which may accompany foreign investments. The
use of foreign capital and labour cost Liberia an average of
$ 100 million per year at the end of the 1970's. The dependence
of the government on the concession sector prevented the Liberian
Government from following an independent policy without risking
the collapse of the national economy. The many labour intensive
investments for other than rice production which the Liberian Government
naively accepted, drew on the available labour force in
the subsistence sector. Even as the population grew, this caused
a lower output of rice which made increasing imports of the country's
staple food a necessity. This was further complicated by
the indifferent agricultural policy of the government.
The national economy had developed into a dual system in which the
concession sector had little or no connection with the rest of the
economy. Above all, the Liberian economy is marked by: an exceptional
dependence on foreign investors who export their production,
nearly all unprocessed, to processing industries in