The Ghana Association of Forex Bureaux reports a significant slowdown in operations following a Bank of Ghana (BoG) directive requiring operators to verify the Ghana Card of customers before completing transactions.
Vice President of the association, Dr. Alex Akpabli, disclosed that customers who come to transact business leave immediately after a request is made to them to present the Ghana Card.
“You know Forex Bureaux are profit-oriented institutions and this particular policy that has come has slowed down our business. We are just praying as time goes on and public education goes on, people will get to understand that if you walk to a bureau you must use your Ghana Card or Passport. If people buy into this, I think it will change but as we speak now, if someone walks into your bureaux and you ask them for a Ghana Card for verification, then they just move. I believe it will change but not now” he said.
This follows a public notice issued in July 2024 by the central bank that starting August 1, 2024, all licensed Foreign Exchange Bureaux will be mandated to request the Ghana Card before conducting any transactions.
The directive was after BoG launched a centralized foreign exchange trading platform in line with its objective to ensure the integrity and development of the financial system.
In response to accusations that the association was contributing to the Cedi’s depreciation, Dr. Akpabli dismissed the claims as false and laughable.
He emphasized that the association is fully compliant with all Bank of Ghana directives.
“We are a regulated sector and we hava e license to buy foreign currency and sell. Whoever is putting the blame on the association has gotten it completely wrong because what we do is to buy and sell so why should we be blamed as the cause of the depreciation. One of the problems leading to the fall of the cedi is capital flight, and we have so many foreign companies in the system. When they are repatriating profits they won’t take your Ghana Cedi”.
He pointed out that the real challenge lies with the multinational companies that repatriate all their profits in dollars.
“The big businesses are not in the hands of Ghanaians so if you want to blame us then it’s laughable because we are even helping and not contributing to the fall of the cedi. We are doing our best to comply with all the directives from the regulator,” he said.