Monrovia, June 26 -- As civil society organizations intensify calls for debt cancellation and fiscal reform, the Liberian government has defended what it calls a deliberate effort to rebuild trust with global lenders.

By Aria Deemie, climate, environment, and science reporter with New Narratives

Alice E. Williams, assistant minister for External Resources and Debt Management at the Ministry of Finance, acknowledged the country's historic debt burden but said the current administration had little choice but to restore credibility with international partners.

"When we came in, the World Bank had suspended all projects. The African Development Bank, the Kuwaiti Fund - they had all frozen us out," Williams said. "So our first priority was...