Large notes only benefits criminals – Franklin Cudjoe reacts to BoG new notes

President of IMANI Arica, Franklin Cudjoe, has added his voice to the many who are against the introduction of large notes to Ghana’s economy, noting that it will only help criminals hide stolen money easily.

He says this isn’t a legacy the central bank should be happy about leaving.

“Large notes have been found to be helpful to criminals (terrorists, money launderers, human traffickers - The Economist, May 7, 2016) who can easily hide stolen money,” he said in a Facebook post.

Mr Cudjoe said the introduction of the GH¢200 and GH¢100 notes contradicts the Vice President’s cashless economy initiative.

“So, who really asked for these large bank notes? I thought we are driving a cashless society… Just another example to make nonsense of our hard working Veep's electronic initiatives,” he said in a Facebook post.

Explaining the rationale for the new denominations on Friday, November 29, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana said the face value of the cedi compared to the US dollar over the past 12 years had eroded due to sustained periods of high inflation and depreciation.

Dr. Addison said the introduction of the new notes, as well as a Gh¢2 coin, is meant to shore of the value of the Ghana cedi.

“A lot of thinking went into the decision to introduce the higher denomination banknotes. The structure of the banknote should align well with the needs of the people who use it for their daily transactions. We need banknotes and coins that are convenient for most people to use, high quality, secure and cost-effective. Accordingly, in March 2017, the Bank of Ghana begun a process of conducting a thorough review of the structure of the currency including on the note/coin boundary and acceptability and use of the individual currency series,” Dr. Addison said.

But Franklin Cudjoe believes this move is a misplaced priority, advising the central bank to rather focus on preventing the planned tax on mobile money.

“The BoG should focus its energy on preventing the odious tax consideration on mobile money, which by far is the single most important developing world revolution in driving a cashless society, instead of being happy to have left a legacy of large bank notes, even if the beautiful signature of its leader on these notes is the sole reason for introducing them.”

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