Understand the numbers
Compare the scale of reported financial irregularities with familiar public programmes and infrastructure. These are illustrations—not a claim that every reported irregularity was cash lost or available to spend.
Live archive total · USD
This nominal total is calculated from all available extracted reports in the archive. It will update as the underlying database changes.
Major programmes · 2025
The approved 2025 allocation for priority infrastructure under the government's Big Push programme.
Converted at the archive's 2025 rate of GH₵11.10 per US dollar. An annual allocation is not the full multi-year programme cost.
Illustrative equivalent
16.1 times the 2025 Big Push allocation benchmarktimes
$19.96B ÷ $1.24B
Major programmes · 2020
A national project supporting private investment, entrepreneurship and growth in non-resource sectors.
This is approved project financing, not a unit construction cost.
Illustrative equivalent
99.8 times the Ghana Economic Transformation Project benchmarktimes
$19.96B ÷ $200M
Hospitals · 2012
The major redevelopment of Ridge Hospital into the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, including specialist facilities and equipment.
A tertiary regional hospital has a different scope, site and equipment profile from a standard district hospital.
Illustrative equivalent
79.9 times the Greater Accra Regional Hospital redevelopment benchmarktimes
$19.96B ÷ $250M
Hospitals · 2022
The second phase of the University of Ghana's quaternary medical centre, financed by a facility from Bank Hapoalim and commissioned in June 2022.
This is a specialised teaching and research facility financed by a loan facility, not a representative cost for an ordinary hospital.
Illustrative equivalent
92 times the University of Ghana Medical Centre — Phase II benchmarktimes
$19.96B ÷ $217M
Roads · 2016
The interchange project and approximately 10 kilometres of interconnected urban roads in Greater Accra.
The total combines external financing and government counterpart funding; it should not be treated as a generic cost per kilometre.
Illustrative equivalent
210 times the Pokuase Interchange and connecting roads benchmarktimes
$19.96B ÷ $94.7M
Roads · 2026
An implied unit benchmark from US$500 million financing expected to rehabilitate and maintain more than 1,000 kilometres of rural roads.
This is a simple financing-per-kilometre proxy. The programme also covers maintenance, market access and institutional activities, and actual road costs vary.
Illustrative equivalent
39,925 times the One kilometre of rehabilitated rural road benchmarktimes
$19.96B ÷ $500K
Schools · 2020
A six-classroom block at Esuoso with a computer room, toilets, urinal and landscaping.
Converted at the archive's 2020 rate of GH₵5.7602 per US dollar. Location, specification and construction inflation materially change school costs.
Illustrative equivalent
209,069 times the Six-unit basic-school classroom block benchmarktimes
$19.96B ÷ $95.48K
Schools · 2020
A nationwide programme supporting teaching and learning in low-performing basic schools.
This is programme financing for learning outcomes, not the cost of constructing a school.
Illustrative equivalent
91.3 times the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project benchmarktimes
$19.96B ÷ $218.7M
IMF comparisons · 2023
The total approved amount under Ghana's three-year Extended Credit Facility arrangement.
The IMF amount is programme financing disbursed in tranches and subject to reviews; it is not a public-project cost.
Illustrative equivalent
6.65 times the Ghana's 2023 IMF programme benchmarktimes
$19.96B ÷ $3B
IMF comparisons · 2023
A historical comparison using the IMF's arrangement-level record, including the 2023 programme.
This approximate nominal-dollar comparison sums approved arrangements across decades. It is not inflation-adjusted, and approved amounts are not the same as amounts ultimately drawn.
Illustrative equivalent
1.88 times the All IMF arrangements approved for Ghana since 1966 benchmarktimes
$19.96B ÷ $10.6B
IMF comparison
Switch between the number of IMF borrowing approvals and the amounts Ghana actually drew. The count covers 17 formal arrangements and one 2020 outright emergency loan; periods group the IMF record for readability.
Borrowing approvals
18approvals
The live audit total is about $1.11B per approval.
Drawn amounts are published in SDR. For a like-for-like comparison with the archive’s USD total, this view uses the implied 2023 IMF programme conversion of SDR 2.2419bn ≈ US$3bn. It is a nominal conversion, not an inflation-adjusted historical value.
IMF history of lending commitmentsMethodology
Each equivalent divides the live US-dollar archive total by one published benchmark cost. Cedi benchmarks are converted using the documented rate for the benchmark’s source year—not today’s exchange rate.
Audit irregularities include several kinds of control failure and do not all represent confirmed theft or an immediately recoverable cash loss. Programme allocations, financing commitments, and reported project costs are also different kinds of figures; every row labels which one it uses.
Whole-build language is rounded down only when a whole number is shown. The calculation displayed under each result uses the unrounded values. Read the linked source and its caveat before citing a comparison.
Read the archive methodology · Inspect the underlying figures