Ato Forson Uncovers $31bn Illicit Transfer Scandal in Import System
Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has blown the lid off what he describes as one of the biggest financial leakages in Ghana’s recent history, revealing massive abuses within the country’s import declaration regime that have allowed billions of dollars to be siphoned out of the economy.
While presenting the 2026 Budget Statement to Parliament on Thursday, November 13, the Minister disclosed that a detailed review by his ministry has exposed shocking manipulation of import declaration forms—documents meant strictly for genuine trade transactions.
According to the Minister, a total of more than 525,000 transfer entries, valued at an equivalent of $83 billion, were processed through the import declaration system between April 2020 and August 2025. Out of this huge number, only 10,440 transactions were tied to real imports, amounting to about $52 billion.
This leaves a staggering $31 billion that was sent out of the country without any goods arriving to back the transfers—money Dr. Forson says essentially vanished through a loophole exploited by unscrupulous individuals.
He warned that the abuse has placed severe pressure on the country’s foreign reserves, worsened the depreciation of the cedi, and robbed the state of revenue needed for critical projects.
“These leakages erode our reserves, destabilise the cedi, and deny the nation resources that could be used to build schools, hospitals, roads and other essential infrastructure,” Dr. Forson lamented.
He further disclosed that persons found complicit in the scheme will be handed over to the Attorney General’s Department and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for prosecution.
To forestall future abuses, the Minister announced the establishment of an inter-agency task force mandated to scrutinise all import-related foreign transfers going forward.
