Your expenditure has put almost 850,000 Ghanaians into poverty — Mr. Benjamin Quashie slams BoG

Mr. Benjamin Kofi Quashie, Chairman of the South African National Democratic Congress Council of Elders has strongly criticized the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for the huge expenditures.

During a phone-in interview on CTV monitored by ModernGhana News on Wednesday, August 9, 2023, Mr. Benjamin Quashie expressed deep concern over the Bank of Ghana's lavish spending on foreign and domestic travels, as well as motor maintenance and running.

According to him, the figures provided showed that a staggering 97.4 million cedis were expended on foreign travels, while an additional 1.316 trillion cedis were allocated to domestic travels, motor maintenance, and running.

Mr Quashie questioned the rationale behind such high expenditure, wondering whether the management of Bank of Ghana uses using luxury sports cars and SUVs like Range Rovers, Lamborghini, Jaguars and Rolls Royces for official duties.

He expressed his dismay at the waste of taxpayers money by the BoG, stating, "When we complain of not having money, this Bank of Ghana has gone round printing money for this government.

“In 2021 and 2022 alone, they printed more than ¢80 billion,” he noted.

Mr Quashie further revealed that a substantial portion of the printed money ¢48 billion had been declared as bad debt, leading to significant repercussions on Ghanaians.

He emphasized it had resulted in nearly 850,000 Ghanaians falling below the poverty line.

"You know what that has done? It has put almost 850,000 Ghanaians into poverty", Mr. Quashie said.