Bank of Ghana Eases Foreign-Currency Rules.

 

The Bank of Ghana(BoG) has dropped some measures  on  foreign exchange which will allow withdrawals from up to US$10,000 henceforth. These measures were taken off after BoG’s review of certain regulations imposed to foreign exchange last February.

 A wide-section of the Ghanaian public believed it to be a significant cause of the fall of the Cedi.

The amended controls will now  allow the foreign transactions of up to US$10,000 over the counter, provided the customer gives the notice days ahead. Hitherto, foreign account  and exchange holders   were required   to provide documentation for transfers outside Ghana. This requirement has also been dropped.

Additionally,bankers were also prohibited  to grant loans to customers in foreign currency; BoG has also also lifted the ban.

The ease up on foreign exchange measures comes as no surprise to many as the BoG in the past few months had come under serious flack. Many economists believe the restrictions contributed to the cedi depreciation. The cedi  is currently trading GH¢ 3 against the dollar.

The bank issued orders in February requiring all companies use the cedi in local transactions to prevent the economy from becoming dependent on foreign currencies. The bank also limited the use of dollars and euros to exporters and importers and set limits on who can have accounts denominated in foreign currencies. 

The cedi gained 2.7 percent to 3.035 per dollar as of 12:22 p.m. in Accra, paring losses this year to 22 percent, the biggest drop among 24 African currencies monitored by Bloomberg.