IPNews-Monrovia,Liberia-21 February 2018:Recently former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on the BBC expressed disbelieve that the Liberian economy she operated for 12 years had the capacity for any collective of Individuals to transfer about $400 million United States dollars into foreign bank accounts. In December 2017, the closing year of the Johnson Sirleaf’s administration, the Central Bank of Liberia reported more than $449 million United States dollars were transferred outside of Liberia into the private accounts of individuals in foreign banks via personal remittances sparking concerns from Liberia and its development partners of rampant corruption. But speaking to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in relation to President George Weah’s claimed that she left behind a bankrupt country, of only Five Hundred thousand United States dollars (USD 500.000.00). Madam Sirleaf in that interview said during her time of departure as president the nation’s financial position was safe and sound contrary to what Weah is alleging. She than promised to ask the Executive Governor of the Central Bank to provide detailed explanation regarding his statement of 18 December on the state of the nation’s economy. It may be recalled that CBL Governor Milton Weeks, told newsmen that the Liberian government does not have such amount of money for individuals to transfer oversea. Governor Weeks: “For the 12-month period ended-October, 2017 (i.e. November, 2016 – October, 2017) as compared with the period ended October 2016 (i.e. November, 2015-October, 2016).The trend of personal remittances suggests a 70.9 percent decline in net inward personal remittances largely driven by substantial increase in outward personal remittances during the current period.” Now, in the wake of these controversies, the Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia, Milton Weeks, has disclosed that it current have as its national reserve a little over ninety million United States dollars (US$96.37 million), refuting claims that there was illegal capital transfers. “The CBL wishes to emphasize that the sources of the monies that were remitted were not from the Central Bank of Liberia. In addition, nowhere in the CBL publication does the issue of unidentified foreign accounts arise,” the CBL said in a press statement issued at the weekend. This report now from the CBL has raised clouds on the professionalism of the Economic and financial experts team set up by the new government- the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), due to their repeated claims that officials of the former government empty the national coffers, with figures amounting to US$400m of tax payers monies before leaving the country. The CBL’s reaction comes less than a week after former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf strongly disputed the claims in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Former President Sirleaf said that there are records to show that she had not left an empty coffers and that there were some people who may not have been reading the figures right contrary to claims by President George M. Weah, with advise from his Economic team of a virtually empty national coffers of 500K, during his first State of the Nation address on January 29, 2018. It may be recalled that Liberia’s new President George Manneh Weah stated that his government has inherited a broken economy and the government is broke, with inflation at an all-time high. The Executive Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL),Milton Weeks, said the statistics released by the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) have been taken out of context and/or simply misunderstood. Governor Weeks stated that media reports on the matter have the propensity to undermine the credibility and stability of the financial sector and by extension present wrong signals to the public including our development partners, current and potential investors, among others. It may be recalled in 2017 December, the CBL disclosed that between November 2016 and October 2017, outward personal remittance amounted to US$449.41 million while during that same period, Liberia received US$545.78 million in inward personal remittance, representing a net gain of US$96.37 million. Governor Weeks: “The US$449 million mentioned comprised all transfers in cash made by residents to non-residents and transfers between resident and non-resident individuals on one hand. On the other hand, it also comprised transfers of income of border, seasonal, and other short-term workers who are employed in the economy where they are not resident. It is the total of all monies remitted through Western Union, MoneyGram, Ria (another money transfer operator) and via SWIFT-1 by individuals and/or businesses to the rest of the world.” Speaking furthermore, Governor Weeks added that reports in the Liberian Media that US$449.41 was in an outward personal remittance in 2017 does not in any way suggest that the money was transmitted directly from the CBL or transmitted to unidentified foreign accounts. “The CBL wishes to emphasize that the sources of the monies that were remitted were not from the Central Bank of Liberia. In addition, nowhere in the CBL publication does the issue of unidentified foreign accounts arise”. Governor Weeks narrated. The CBL calendar in 2017, shows (i.e. January-December, 2017), provisional statistics show that the total outflows of personal remittances amounted to US$445.3 million. Of this amount, about 31.5 percent was transferred through Money Transfer Operators (i.e. Western Union, MoneyGram, and RIA) while the remaining 68.5 percent were through banks using SWIFT. Most of the SWIFT transactions (which constituted 68.5 percent of the total outflows) were carried out by businesses engaged in construction activities, rice and frozen food importation, auto parts, supermarkets and trading businesses, among others. Over the last 2 years, preceding the elections period, the total outflows of personal remittances grew from US$293.4 million in 2015 to US$304.6 million in 2016. The growth in total outflow in 2017 largely reflects responses within the economy to uncertainty that may have been associated with the then impending elections. Where there is uncertainty, there will be outflow of funds. It is important, however, to once again emphasize that the total outflow of remittances mentioned is an aggregate of personal remittances from various sources and NOT transfers made by officials of Government or to unknown accounts as is being wrongly perceived. The Central Bank of Liberia call for public scrutiny, especially from the media, now puts speculations surrounding an empty CBL account to an end