Euro raises demand for dollars in Ghana

The introduction of the euro into the Ghanaian forex bureau market has raised the demands for US dollars. This, according to the forex bureau operators, is due to the fact that there is not enough euro to meet the demand for it. In lieu of the euro therefore, people buy the US dollars.

Speaking to the HSJ, Joseph Andy Adjetey, the manager of First African Forex Bureau, allayed fears by a section of the public that the excessive demands for dollars might make the operators of forex bureaux raise the exchange rate of the dollar. He said even though the demand for the dollar is excessive, fortunately, there are enough dollars in the system to meet the high demand.

According to Adjetey, they have completely stopped dealing in currencies such as Deutche marks and guilders. This is in spite of the fact that these currencies have not been totally phased out in Germany, Holland and the rest of European countries where these currencies are used.

He explained that even the banks no longer accept these currencies, so that if they should continue to accept them, they would find them difficult to dispose of. Currently, one euro is changed for about 6,500 dollars.

According to Alhaji Ibrahim Futa of the Pan African Forex Bureau, members of the Forex Bureau Operators Association (GAFORB) had already been conscientised about the imminent phasing out of the 12 European national currencies.

As a result, they were longer buying large amounts of those currencies as far back as September last year. So by this year when the euro came into effect, Forex Bureaux no more had large amounts of those currencies.

Alhaji Futa, who is also the publicity committee chairman of GAFORB said forex bureaux have been classified in small zones, to make for easy dissemination of information.

Thus, every Monday, the exchange rates are communicated to all zonal heads, who in turn communicated them to all forex bureaux in their chatchment area. He also corroborated Adjetey's assertion that the introduction of the euro has put excessive pressure on the dollar.

He however, said that while the forex bureaux have put a lid on the rate of the dollar, the banks charge much higher rates. He therefore accused the banks of being the cause of the depreciation of the cedi.