Monrovia-The Center for Policy Action and Research, CePAR is calling on the Liberian National Legislature to exercise its oversight by recommending the conduct of an immediate investigation into how the twenty-five million United States Dollars was utilized or expended.
Report by Trokon Freeman_trokonfreeman@gmail.com
An Executive Mansion release dated July 16, 2018 instructed the immediate infusion by the Central Bank of Liberia of twenty-five million United States Dollars into the economy to mop up excess liquidity of Liberian dollars.
CePAR says other than a subsequent announcement that some monies were mopped up, there is no proper accounting of how the was mopped over the period covering July 16, 2018 to September 22, 2018.
CePAR is quoted in a statement that its investigation was unable to verify the use of commercial banks where the Liberian Dollars were mopped.
The policy Think-tank alleges that its investigation however found also that the Central Bank of Liberia exercised a direct mop up option through the use of Lorries in acquiring the “Liberian Dollars from the market.
A direct mop up approach as adopted by the CBL in the use of the 25 million United States Dollars, CePAR contends, is susceptible to misuse and fraud.
The CBL, CePAR also believes, does not have the staffing capacity to mop up almost 4 billion Liberia Dollars from the market.
CePAR encourages the Liberian Legislature to demand from the Central Bank of Liberia data to demonstrate that there was excess Liberian Dollar Banknotes on the market thus facilitating the need for a mop up.
The group is asking the Central Bank of Liberia to provide the Legislature the underlying analysis that found the use of foreign exchange outlets an attractive outlet as opposed to commercial banks when it was financially prudent to do so through the commercial banks.
CePAR also requests the CBL to provide an economic impact analysis or an Impact Assessment Report after the infusion of the funds in the economy.
