Amidst reports that hundreds of millions of US dollars left the national coffers in the dying days of the former Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s government, the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has said there have been no such illegal capital transfers.
“The CBL wishes to emphasize that the sources of the monies that were remitted were not from the Central Bank of Liberia. In addition, nowhere in the CBL publication does the issue of unidentified foreign accounts arise,” the CBL said in a press statement issued at the weekend.
Economic and financial experts from the new ruling party, the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) have repeatedly claimed that officials of the former government have bled the national coffers, with some putting funds leaving the country at over US$400m.
The CBL’s reaction comes less than a week after former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf strongly disputed the claims in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Sirleaf said that there are records to show that she had not left an empty coffers and that there were some people who may not have been reading the figures right.
In his first State of the Nation address on January 29, 2018, Liberia’s new President George Manneh Weah said his government has inherited a broken economy and the government is broke, with inflation at an all-time high.
Milton Weeks is Executive Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL).
BELOW IS A FULL TEXT OF THE CBL PRESS RELEASE:
MONROVIA, February 16, 2018– Despite an end-of-year press conference on December 21, 2017 on the state of the Liberian economy, stories still linger alleging illegal capital transfers.
These stories linger because the statistics that the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has released have been taken out of context and/or simply misunderstood.
It is therefore important, that the CBL clarifies these stories to prevent speculations that have the propensity to undermine the credibility and stability of the financial sector and by extension present wrong signals to the public including our development partners, current and potential investors, among others.
During the December 2017 Press Conference, the CBL disclosed that between November 2016 and October 2017, outward personal remittance amounted to US$449.41 million while during that same period, Liberia received US$545.78 million in inward personal remittance, representing a net gain of US$96.37 million.
The US$449 million mentioned comprised all transfers in cash made by residents to non-residents and transfers between resident and non-resident individuals on one hand.
On the other hand, it also comprised transfers of income of border, seasonal, and other short-term workers who are employed in the economy where they are not resident.
It is the total of all monies remitted through Western Union, MoneyGram, Ria (another money transfer operator) and via SWIFT[1] by individuals and/or businesses to the rest of the world.
Furthermore, reporting that there was US$449.41 in outward personal remittance in 2017 does not in any way suggest that the money was transmitted directly from the CBL or transmitted to unidentified foreign accounts.
The CBL wishes to emphasize that the sources of the monies that were remitted were not from the Central Bank of Liberia. In addition, nowhere in the CBL publication does the issue of unidentified foreign accounts arise.
For the calendar year 2017 (i.e. January-December, 2017), provisional statistics show that the total outflows of personal remittances amounted to US$445.3 million. Of this amount, about 31.5 percent was transferred through Money Transfer Operators (i.e. Western Union, MoneyGram, and RIA) while the remaining 68.5 percent were through banks using SWIFT.
Most of the SWIFT transactions (which constituted 68.5 percent of the total outflows) were carried out by businesses engaged in construction activities, rice and frozen food importation, auto parts, supermarkets and trading businesses, among others.
Over the last 2 years, preceding the elections period, the total outflows of personal remittances grew from US$293.4 million in 2015 to US$304.6 million in 2016.
The growth in total outflow in 2017 largely reflects responses within the economy to uncertainty that may have been associated with the then impending elections.
Where there is uncertainty, there will be outflow of funds. It is important, however, to once again emphasize that the total outflow of remittances mentioned is an aggregate of personal remittances from various sources and NOT transfers made by officials of Government or to unknown accounts as is being wrongly perceived.
The Central Bank of Liberia welcomes public scrutiny, especially from the media, but this must be done in good faith.
For Inquiries Contact:
Cyrus Wleh Badio
Head of Corporate Communications
Central Bank of Liberia
Email: cwbadio@cbl.org.lr/wlehbad@gmail.com
[1] The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) provides a network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure, standardized and reliable environment.