Mali, one of the world's poorest countries, has identified 13,000 fictitious workers on the state payroll who had cost a total of 30 billion CFA francs ($50 million), according to the information minister. A source in the West African state's finance ministry told Reuters on Saturday these were mostly workers who had either died or left to go and work for international organisations. "The savings that can be made if all measures are taken ... will be around 30 billion CFA francs," Tall added. The source at the finance ministry also could not provide such details. Investigating and striking off ghost workers are among the requirements of Mali's programme with the IMF.

Source: The North Africa Journal August 14, 2016 12:22 UTC