The Bank of Ghana’s 2024 Annual Report, released on Monday, July 7, has revealed that the central bank spent GH¢206 million on official travel last year—exactly double the GH¢103 million recorded in 2023.
This revelation comes at a time of increased scrutiny over public expenditure and cost control, especially as the central bank recorded a GH¢9.4 billion loss in 2024. While this marks an improvement from the GH¢13.2 billion loss in 2023, the sharp rise in travel costs has sparked concern.
On February 7, 2025, President John Mahama issued a directive banning first-class travel for all government appointees, a move expected to help moderate official travel expenses going forward.
The GH¢206 million spent in 2024 represents the highest travel expenditure by the central bank since at least 2015. That year, travel costs stood at GH¢30 million and rose to GH¢48 million in 2019. The figure dipped to GH¢20 million in 2020 and GH¢28 million in 2021, largely due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
In 2022, travel expenses jumped to GH¢76 million before soaring to GH¢206 million in 2024.
Although the Bank has not released a breakdown of the 2024 travel expenditure, Ghana’s participation in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme may partly account for the increase. Frequent missions to Washington and other international financial engagements could have contributed significantly.
Still, without detailed disclosures, the exact drivers of the doubling in travel expenditure remain unclear.
Source: JoyNews Research
