Consumers could soon see a reduction in the prices of imported goods following new foreign exchange guidelines issued by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for shipping industry players, effective July 22, 2025.
The Vice President of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF), Nana Asiamah Peprah I, revealed in an interview that the BoG’s directive is expected to curb the arbitrary and inflated exchange rates used by shipping lines, which have driven up import costs.
“Some of these shipping lines who were quoting very high rates are now being compelled to work with the Bank of Ghana rates; that will definitely impact on cost of imports and prices on the market,” he stated.
He explained that despite the recent appreciation of the cedi, many shipping lines continued to quote exchange rates far above BoG’s and commercial banks’ rates, keeping import prices artificially high.
“This is one of the reasons why some of these traders have not been responding to current developments on the market when it comes to the cedi’s appreciation,” he added.
Background to BoG’s intervention
The BoG, after extensive stakeholder consultations, announced guidelines requiring all industry players to publish their daily exchange rates used for invoicing on their websites and/or at their business premises. These rates must be transparent and clearly communicated to customers before invoicing or payments.
According to the BoG, the directive seeks to ensure transparency, consistency, and alignment with regulatory frameworks for foreign exchange pricing at Ghana’s ports.
Nana Peprah I praised the central bank for acting swiftly to address concerns within the import sector.
“We just had this meeting recently on arbitrary rates used by the shipping lines at the ports and the next thing we saw is a notice on the guidelines,” he said. “This can be described as timely and good for the industry.”
He added that GIFF will soon advocate for exchange rates to be fixed for at least a month to aid business planning and stabilise import costs.
“The next thing that we will be pushing for is the rates being fixed for at least a month to aid planning for most importers and businesses,” he suggested, noting that such a policy could further reduce the cost of doing business and allow importers to pass on savings to consumers.
