The US dollar continued to rise even as a new Bank of Ghana directive on forex trading took effect. On Thursday, the dollar opened trading on the interbank market at levels of GH¢15.70 for buying and GH¢15.85 for selling, compared to GH¢15.70 for buying and GH¢15.80 for selling the dollar on Wednesday, July 31.
Starting August 1, anyone entering a forex bureau in Ghana to buy or sell foreign currency must undergo biometric verification and present either a Ghana Card or a passport. This new directive from the Bank of Ghana mandates that all forex bureaux in the country use a newly launched centralized foreign exchange trading platform. The bureaux are required to use the new management software for transactions and issue electronic receipts to customers for all purchases and sales of foreign currencies.
The directive is part of the Bank of Ghana’s efforts to curb the depreciation of the cedi. However, market sentiment on the interbank market has not yet responded to the directive. Instead, the continued high demand for the dollar is driving its upward trend and the corresponding decline in the value of the cedi. Currency Trader Kodzo Dziwornu Letsa told The High Street Journal before 10 o’clock Thursday morning that “the interbank forex market continues to remain uninspiring with very few trades registering due to market illiquidity presently.” Mr. Letsa expects trading to remain slow for the rest of the day.
The Central Bank hopes the new trading platform will improve its monitoring and supervision of forex bureau operations in compliance with the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723), the Anti-Money Laundering Act, (Act 1044), and other relevant regulations. But ultimately, the Central Bank hopes it would help stabilise the cedi.
