Banks Circulating Fake Currency

Taking your cash from the Banks is no longer a guarantee that you would not be given fake currencies.

The point is that fake currencies are all over the place and the general public is growing increasingly panicky over the problem.

The case of Mr. Johnson Amanor, a salesman who has just enrolled as a mature student at the Accra Polytechnic is instructive.

He went to an international bank at Adabraka in Accra to withdraw more than GHC1, 000.00 which he intended to pay his fees with.

It turned out that a GHC 20.00 note in the bunch he was given at the counter was fake. The bank eventually agreed to replace it with a genuine one.

Most of the fake local currencies are in GHC20 and GH50 denominations. They are believed to be printed in a West African country and brought into the country by road.

Early this year, customs officials at Afloa arrested a criminal gang including Ghanaians who were attempting to smuggle GHC 20 notes into the country.

Economists say that the fake currency business is worsening the money supply situation and pushing up inflation.

It is also contributing to the depreciated of the cedi. Credible reports reaching The Insight indicate that fake pound sterling and US dollars are also being circulated in the country.

Many traders have lost substantial amounts as a result of the circulation of fake currencies.

Madam Elizabeth Oduro, a trader at Kokomlemle claims to have lost as much as GHC 1, 000.00 within the last two years as a direct result of the circulation of fake currencies.

Perhaps the time has come for the security services to pay special attention to the problem.