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

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.