On August 20, 2025, the Financial institution of Ghana (BoG) issued a directive to banks geared toward defending the cedi’s stability in opposition to main foreign currency.
The instruction is simple: giant corporations can now not withdraw overseas forex they haven’t truly deposited with a financial institution.
Beforehand, companies may stroll right into a financial institution and entry {dollars} even with out depositing any, or they may withdraw greater than that they had put in.
For instance, if a mining firm had deposited $100, it may nonetheless withdraw excess of that. Below the brand new rule, an organization can solely take out what it has truly deposited. If it hasn’t deposited any {dollars}, it can’t withdraw any.
The central financial institution frames this as a measure “to safeguard market stability.” It’s focused primarily at oil distribution corporations and mining companies.
What adjustments in observe?
The Financial institution of Ghana insists this won’t disrupt reliable operations. Corporations will nonetheless have entry to overseas change to pay for reliable imports, offered they arrive with correct documentation.
What the directive ends is the observe of corporations drawing, say, $1 million from a financial institution with out having deposited $1 million within the first place.
Reviews are that some companies abused this technique by hoarding {dollars}, shifting them between accounts, or holding them purely for hypothesis (betting that the cedi would weaken so they may revenue). Every time this occurred, it put pointless strain on the native forex.
This directive comes as a part of wider efforts by the Financial institution of Ghana to defend the cedi. The forex began the yr at GH¢14.7 to the greenback, appreciated sharply to GH¢10.3 by July, and has since stabilised between GH¢10.3 and GH¢10.95.
The central financial institution has been accused of propping up the forex by aggressively injecting liquidity, with $1.4 billion equipped to the market within the first three months of 2025 alone.
Nonetheless, the Financial institution argues stability is important, and it’s.
Different measures embrace stricter reporting necessities for remittances and a clampdown on fintech companies breaking remittance guidelines. Remittances introduced in $3.9 billion within the first half of 2025, up from $3.6 billion in the identical interval final yr.
Nevertheless, the appreciation of the cedi has diminished inflows by practically 50 per cent in latest months.
Happily, excessive gold costs proceed to offer a cushion, giving the Financial institution of Ghana respiration room to implement tighter controls.
Corporations, in the meantime, have raised issues that some authorities businesses peg their charges to the greenback and accumulate the cedi equal, typically at inflated change charges.
For true forex stability, all transactions in Ghana must be priced transparently in cedis. Whereas implementing this throughout the non-public sector could also be tough, the federal government can no less than set the instance by requiring its personal businesses to conform.
This new directive is optimistic for the cedi if carried out easily. Corporations will nonetheless be capable to entry {dollars} for reliable imports, however speculative withdrawals that put strain on the forex will finish.
In the long run, Ghana’s economic system runs on the cedi, and the Financial institution of Ghana is betting that stricter self-discipline will preserve it sturdy.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Feedback, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform don’t essentially symbolize the views or coverage of Multimedia Group Restricted.
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