President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that the effort to close down non-compliant forex bureaus will continue.
This is one of the measures being implemented by the government to address the country’s economic challenges, particularly Cedi’s poor performance against the US dollar.
In his address to the nation on Sunday, October 30, Mr. Akufo-Addo stated, “The following actions have thus far been taken: 1) increased supervision by the Bank of Ghana in the forex bureau markets and the black market to root out illegal operators and ensure that those permitted to operate legally follow market rules.”
“Some forex bureaus’ licences have already been revoked, and this process will continue until complete order is restored in the sector,” he said.
“Fresh inflows of dollars are providing liquidity to the foreign exchange market and addressing pipeline demand,” according to the other measures.
“The Bank of Ghana has given its full commitment to commercial banks to provide liquidity to ensure the economy’s wheels continue to turn in a stable manner until the IMF Program kicks in and the financing assurances expected from other partners arrive.”
“The government is collaborating with the Bank of Ghana and oil and mining companies to develop a new legal and regulatory framework to ensure that all foreign exchange earned from operations in Ghana is initially paid to Ghanaian banks.”
“The Bank of Ghana will expand its gold buying programme.”
The Bank of Ghana has revoked the licences of Trade House and Airport City Forex Bureaux Limited, effective October 27, 2022, in accordance with Sections 11 (1) and 12 (f) of the Foreign Exchange Act 2006 (723).
This was based on non-compliance with rules governing the operations of foreign exchange bureaux, including directives on customer identification and the issuance of electronic receipts (Bank of Ghana Notice Number: BG/GOV/SEC/2018/16), (i)The Bank of Ghana reserves the right to revoke the licence of any forex bureau if: in the Bank’s opinion, any forex bureau’s conduct is detrimental to the success of the Forex Bureau Scheme;
Also read: Forex bureaus enraged by black market competitors
According to Yaw Sapong, Head of Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department at the Bank of Ghana, the exercise to ensure sanity in the forex market is expected to continue across Accra and the Greater Accra region.
The two forex bureaus are owned by the same person and were discovered during a mystery shopping exercise conducted by the central bank.
The Central Bank’s Head of Other Financial Institutions Supervision noted that they were not issuing electronic receipts and were not requiring valid proof of identity.
Mr. Sarpong stated that the “two bureaus have been found not to be complying on several occasions.”
“The manner in which they set their prices is detrimental, and we believe that the licenses of the two bureaus should be revoked,” he added.
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