The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says government officials in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) spent $3.9 billion as Personal Travel Allowance (PTA) and other forms of estacodes in the 2019 financial year.
The apex bank made the disclosure in its 2020 Annual Report of Currency Operations.
Also, the Bank recorded a significant reduction in the volume and cost of foreign exchange procurement. A total of USD1,830.00 million was procured over the course of 2020. This value represents a decrease of USD2,120.00 million or 53.67 per cent relative to the USD3,950.00 million procured in 2019. This was used to fund Bureaux De Change (BDC) operations, payment of estacode and Personal Travel Allowances (PTA) to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).