GHANA– The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has insisted that the decision to introduce the GH¢100 and GH¢200 new currency notes forms part of its reform program aimed at making the cedi relevant to changing times.
“The Bank would like to inform the general public that the introduction of the new denominations is the result of a well-thought out currency reform program,” the Bank said in a press statement.
The Bank of Ghana explained that it begun the process of a thorough review of the structure of the currency since 2017 including a note/coin boundary, acceptability and use of the individual currency series.
The review exercise according to the bank, involved a nationwide survey with market operatives, businesses and international stakeholders as well as some empirical exercises.
It said the outcome of the review process indicated a significant increase in the demand for higher denomination banknote.
BoG said that 12 years after of the redenomination of the cedi, high inflation and depreciation of the currency have eroded making people to carry large sums of money for economic transactions.
This phenomenon, the bank explained, does not only burden people but poses a security threat to those carrying them.
It revealed that the existing high denominations of GH¢50 and GH¢20 accounted for about 70% of the value of currency stock compared to 27% at the time of redenomination.
At the same time, the volume of banknotes had increased significantly putting pressure on currency processing facilities, storage and logistics.
It said it was therefore necessary to reset the denominational mix of the currencies to improve the currency management and reduces costs.
“In line with the objective of efficiency and cost effectiveness, the Bank of Ghana introduced a new GH¢2-coin, GH¢100 and GH¢200 banknotes denominations into circulation to complement the existing series,” the statement said.
This will ensure customer convenience, improve efficiency in high value transactions in cash, reduce cost of printing as well as enhance currency management processing, transporting, and storing banknotes.
These Bank of Ghana further said that it maintains a very strict clean note policy, making the country’s currency the cleanest across the West African sub-region.
The Bank of Ghana also noted that it will be working with ECOWAS Central banks to ensure that any currency arrangement will be viable and sustainable.
