FLASHBACK: Desist from buying, selling foreign currency or face prosecution - BoG warns public

The Bank of Ghana in June 2021 warned the public to desist from the buying and selling of foreign currency or face prosecution.

According to the central bank, those activities were prohibited under Ghana's law.

Read the full story originally published on June 16, 2021 by www.ghanaweb.com.

• The Bank of Ghana has served a warning to persons engaged in buying and selling of foreign currency from unlicensed service points

• The Central Bank says such activities are illegal

• The Bank also wants forex bureaus to demand IDs for all transactions

Persons engaged in the buying and selling of foreign currency to or from unlicensed persons or entities have been served a warning from the Bank of Ghana.

The Bank says those activities are prohibited under Ghana’s laws.

By this, the Bank of Ghana is urging the public to report any such illegal activities to the Financial Stability Department of the Bank of Ghana for further actions to be taken.

This was contained in a release by the Central Bank as part of its financial literacy education on forex bureau, adding that those engaged in the buying and selling of foreign currency without a license would be punished upon a summary conviction, by a fine or a prison term of not more than 18 months, or both.

That said, the Bank says the ‘black market’ operator is an illegal foreign exchange dealer and should be avoided because they are not operating with a Bank of Ghana’s license.

“A Bank of Ghana license issued to a forex bureau should be displayed in the premises. In addition, all forex bureau are required to affix the forex bureau logo in front of their premises. Look out for the forex bureau logo”, the statement explained.

Further, it said persons will be required to provide identification documents before conducting any transaction with a forex bureau.

In that regard, any forex bureau that does not demand an ID card should is performing an illegality and should be reported.

Passports, driver’s licenses, voter’s IDs and the National ID card are stated as some of the IDs to be used in such transactions.

It continued, subject to availability, one can obtain foreign currency from only authorized banks and forex bureau after providing all relevant documentation.

The statement also cautioned all consumers to be careful as people are likely to trade in fake currency, draw them into money laundering, terrorist financing or they could be attacked by armed robbers while doing business with operators from a black market.

Also, the sole legal tender in the country is the cedi and therefore it is prohibited to price, advertise and demand for payment for goods and services in foreign currency, the statement said.

“The sole legal tender in Ghana is the Ghana cedi and the Ghana pesewa. It is prohibited to price, advertised and demand payment for goods and services in foreign currency.

“The license issued to forex bureau by the Bank of Ghana permits them to engage only in on the spot selling and buying of foreign currencies. You cannot deposit Ghana cedis with a forex bureau at an agreed rate and collect the foreign currency equivalent at a later date”, it said.

In the meantime, $10,000 has been stated by the Central Bank as the maximum amount per transaction at the forex bureau.

Below is the statement on the Financial Literacy Education On Forex Bureaux: