MONROVIA — For decades, Liberia’s economy has leaned on the same narrow pillars: iron ore, rubber, timber and, more recently, gold. Raw materials leave the country, and finished goods come back in.
Policymakers have long argued that breaking this cycle requires places where investors can set up quickly, operate under predictable rules and export at scale.
That argument has now gained a continental platform. The Liberia Special Economic Zones Authority (LSEZA) has secured membership in the Africa Economic Zones Organization (AEZO), the continent’s main network for the institutions that build and run economic zones. Authority officials say the move is designed to make Liberia West Africa’s leading destination for special economic zone (SEZ) investment.
A club of zone builders
AEZO is not a lender or a regulator. It is a peer network. The body was founded in November 2015 by Tanger Med, the Moroccan port and logistics complex that is itself one of Africa’s best-known economic zone success stories. It brings together the agencies and operators responsible for developing, managing and promoting economic zones across Africa, and it now counts roughly 80 members from more than 40 countries.
What members get is practical: a one-stop shop for information on partners and regulations, capacity-building, regional workshops and training.
Authorities that regulate and manage zones join as active members, with access to the full range of services and voting rights at AEZO’s annual General Assembly.
The scale of the network matters. AEZO has reported that Africa has about 203 active SEZs, with 73 more in development, spread across 47 of the continent’s 54 countries. Morocco, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia and Kenya host the most. Liberia, a latecomer, now sits in the same room as the operators of those zones.
A long road to the starting line
Liberia’s zone ambitions are not new. The Liberia Free Zone Authority was created by an Act approved in July 1975, but it never transformed the economy. The modern framework came with the Special Economic Zones Act, adopted on October 9, 2017, which created LSEZA to oversee and regulate SEZs nationwide.
The law offers investors a defined package: special tax incentives, clear rights and obligations for licensees, developers and operators, the free transfer of funds from zone activities, and a one-stop shop in each zone for registrations, licences, permits and tax collection.
Yet for years, the Authority existed mostly on paper. Executive Chairman Prince Wreh has said that although LSEZA was established in 2017, it only became operational under President Joseph Nyuma Boakai. Wreh was appointed its first Executive Chairman in April 2024, followed by a Board of Directors. Since then, the Governance Commission has led a reform of the Authority’s internal structure aimed at efficiency, fiscal accountability and investor confidence.
Where the zones will rise
LSEZA says it is developing five potential zones, supported by land secured in six counties: Montserrado, Margibi, Grand Bassa, Grand Cape Mount, Bong and Nimba.
The most advanced concept is in Grand Bassa, where about 500 acres near the Port of Buchanan have been designated for export-oriented manufacturing, logistics and value-added industry. In Margibi, the Authority is pitching an “airport city” beside Roberts International Airport, combining residential, commercial, industrial, hospitality and recreational facilities.
The government frames the programme as part of Pillar 1, Economic Transformation, of its ARREST Agenda. The administration recently renewed its push to position the zones as platforms for investment, industrial expansion and employment, following a high-level engagement between LSEZA and the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs.
What membership could change for LSEZA
For a young authority with a limited track record, AEZO offers three things it cannot easily build alone.
The first is know-how. Morocco, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Ghana have each learned costly lessons about zone design, incentive structures and infrastructure sequencing. Peer exchange can help Liberia avoid repeating them.
The second is visibility. Investors scanning the continent for manufacturing sites tend to look first at countries already on the circuit. Membership places Liberia on that map.
The third is positioning under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). AEZO’s leadership has argued that African zones must connect quickly to global value chains as the AfCFTA takes hold. A Liberian zone that can export across the continent on preferential terms is a far more attractive proposition than one serving a domestic market of just over five million people.
What it could mean for Liberia
The promise is jobs. Liberia’s young, fast-growing workforce faces chronic underemployment, and SEZs are designed to concentrate the infrastructure, services and incentives that labour-intensive industries need. Spreading zones across six counties, rather than clustering them around Monrovia, could carry that opportunity to rural communities and ease pressure on the capital.
There is also the prospect of adding value at home: processing agricultural produce, timber and minerals before export rather than shipping them raw.
The caveats
Membership of a network is a beginning, not an outcome. Across Africa, many zones have underperformed, hampered by unreliable power, poor roads, weak port links and slow land titling. Liberia faces all of these constraints. Its zones will be judged not by declarations or affiliations, but by signed tenants, functioning one-stop shops, reliable electricity and the number of Liberians on factory payrolls.
Land is a particular sensitivity. Securing large tracts in six counties will require transparent engagement with host communities and respect for customary land rights if the zones are to avoid the disputes that have dogged earlier concessions.
For now, LSEZA has secured its seat at the continental table. The harder task, turning designated land into working industry, still lies ahead.
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