Liberia’s central bank has said that $100 million US has been safely deposited in the West African country’s reserves, dismissing rampant rumours that container-loads of banknotes had disappeared.
“The Central Bank of Liberia wants to clarify to the general public and our partners in progress that there is no $16 billion (Liberian, 89 million euros, $102 million) missing, as has been erroneously reported in the media,” CEO Nathaniel Patray said in a statement.
“The CBL has no records showing that the money printed under its authority has not yet been delivered in its vaults,” the bank said in a statement.
Hundreds of Liberians took to the streets of the capital Monrovia on Monday to demonstrate over the alleged disappearance of the newly printed bills.
The cash officially destined for the CBL at an unspecified time between last November and August this year had allegedly vanished without trace.
Information Minister Lenn Eugene Nagbe told AFP last week the government would “leave no stone unturned” to find the cash as protesters blamed the authorities for what they termed “mass looting”.
President George Weah, who has vowed to clamp down on corruption, said on Saturday he would not rest until the issue was resolved.
