Source: newsthemegh.com
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has been given 21 days to explain the substantial discrepancy between its stated remittance inflows and those monitored by the World Bank, according to banking consultant Dr. Richmond Atuahene.
Dr. Atuahene has said that the central bank underreported remittance receipts, allowing some FinTech and payment platforms to purportedly withhold large amounts of foreign cash, so hurting the state.
A significant discrepancy in the remittance data is the root of the problem. From 2018 to 2022, the World Bank estimated that remittance inflows to Ghana totaled about $20.7 billion.
However, there was a $11.2 billion discrepancy as only $9.5 billion was reported in the Auditor General’s reports on the BoG’s consolidated statements of foreign exchange receipts and payments for the same period.
Dr. Atuahene claimed that the central bank has been significantly underreporting cash flows from remittances in response to the BoG’s recent statement on the role of FinTech and Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) and the Bank’s refusal of losing about $8 billion due to the activities of FinTechs and MTOs in remittance services.
As a result, he has demanded that the BoG provide evidence—which he described as undeniable—within three weeks to explain the discrepancy between its numbers and those released by the World Bank.
Dr. Atuahene stated on JoyNews, “I’m giving them 21 days because I have more data and I’m going to reveal it because you cannot challenge the World Bank data, which I have confirmed.”
He underlined that the BoG’s claim was baseless and that it did not address the growing discrepancy between its declared and World Bank-tracked remittance receipts.
Dr. Atuahene cautioned further that he would keep disseminating and explaining the facts to the public until the BoG corrected the errors and supplied correct data.
“So I’m giving them 21 days, let them retract it and let them get the data and the facts right. Other than that, I’ll continue to release the data and explain the data to the public,” he said.