Sports Minister Elvis Afriyie Ankrah has confirmed that the Black Stars will be paid in dollars during their participation at the 2014 World Cup.
This is in contrast to ‘false’ reports Ghana President John Mahama has demanded that all payments made to the players at the World Cup should be in the local currency as part of new directives from the central bank.
Eventual reports also had it that the Black Stars players rejected this proposal of payments in the local currency.
But the Sports Minister in sharing some details of the approved $9.8m budget for Ghana’s participation at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil says all transactions during the tournament will be done in dollars.
“First of all the Presidency didn’t issue any directive, these were all speculation.
“Indeed the government of Ghana and the Bank of Ghana had issued those directives – that figures be quoted in Ghana cedis.
“It is however important to note that under the same Bank of Ghana rules, when you are travelling outside the country, you take your passport, your visa and your ticket to the bank and they will give you dollars.
“So in the same vein this is an event which will be done outside this country. The players largely live outside this country, the expenses that are going to be incurred are outside this country.
“So by that same principle, we can use dollars for this particular transaction.”
