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Gov't blows US$18.4 million on sponsoring students and staff abroad - Report

The government has spent a total of US$18.4 million in the first six months of 2019 for the payment of allowances for government employees and sponsored students attending seminars and courses abroad.
Auditor General, Daniel Yao Domelevo
Auditor General, Daniel Yao Domelevo

This was contained in a report by the Auditor-General on the Bank of Ghana's foreign exchange receipts and payments.

The report encompasses gross receipts and payments of the Bank of Ghana for the period 1 January 2019 to 30 June 2019.

The report said "total transfers for 2019 were US$18,471,100.08 compared with US$19,672,749.68 for the corresponding period of 2018, recording a decrease of US$1,201,649.60 or 6.11%. The decrease was mainly due to a reduction in payment for government-sponsored students abroad and public officers attending courses abroad."

The audit was planned and performed to obtain reasonable assurance that the Statement of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments taken as a whole was free from material misstatements.

BoG's foreign exchange inflows for 2019 were derived from cocoa, capital, and invisible receipts. These totaled US$8,634.63 million for 2019 compared with US$2,741.26 million for 2018, an increase of US$5,893.37 million or 214.99%. This showed an upward movement of forex receipts," it added.

According to the report, "Total foreign exchange outflows for the first half-year ended 30 June 2019 totaled US$6,040.59 compared with US$3,838.16 million for the same period of 2018, an increase of US$2,202.43 million or 57.38%."

Here's the full report by the Auditor-General.

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