MONROVIA, Liberia, Nov. 9 -- In central Monrovia, where vendors line the sidewalks with trays of biscuits, chocolate and soap, the national budget is not measured in billions. It is measured in how many customers stop, and how much they can spend.

By Rodney D Sieh

Patrick Mamligar, who sells snacks on those streets, told FrontPageAfrica earlier this year that the finance minister's claims about an improving economy were simply not true.

His was one voice among many in that survey of traders and shoppers. Few of them could point to anything in their own lives that matched the government's upbeat numbers.

The finance minister has heard the complaint before. Pressed on whether Liberians were feeling relief, Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan asked ...