Central Bank Condemns Printing Money for Election Claim
The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has termed as fabrication a recent social media video that falsely claims that L$8.0 billion of the newly printed one-hundred-dollar banknotes was diverted to finance President George Weah’s re-election bid.
According to CBL, the first L$4.0 billion brought into the country in November 2021 was used to ensure that there was enough liquidity in the banks for the December and January festive season, while the second L$4.0 billion brought in February 2022 was used to begin the replacement of mutilated banknotes.”
The release furthered that, as of September 19, a total of L$7.35 billion of the L$8.0 billion had been infused into circulation, which has helped to address the perennial liquidity problem faced by banks.
“The CBL has informed the public regularly about developments relating to the currency reform,” the release said.
In this regard, the Bank has said that as it begins bringing in the minted coins and more of the newly printed banknotes, it is building and remodeling permanent and temporary structures in Monrovia to store, verify, and issue the new banknotes and coins, while defacing and destroying the old banknotes based on approved policies and procedures, the release added.
According to the release, CBL has put in place measures to guarantee the currency changeover exercise — from procurement to the delivery of the new currency into the CBL vault — is transparent and accountable, as evidenced by the technical support and observation of the process by our international partners, including Kroll and Associates, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the African Development Bank (ADB).
“The chairs of the House and Senate committees on Banking and Currency also witnessed the arrival into the country and delivery into the CBL vault of the L$8.0 billion of the newly printed banknotes,” the release further added.
Moreover the release said that the US Embassy issued a press statement, following the procurement process, praising the process as a “win for Liberia”, and the IMF has acknowledged the successful implementation of the currency changeover process thus far, as a key milestone under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) program.
