Takoradi, April 11, GNA - The country will gain tremendously from the re-denomination of the Ghana Cedi, which begins in July this year, Dr Benjamin Amoah of the Monitoring Policy Analysis and Financial Unit of the Bank of Ghana (BOG), has said.

Instead of printing several quantities of the existing currency notes, the country would only have to print and mint some few notes and coins, which would serve the same purpose, he added.

Dr. Amoah stated these at a public forum organised by the Ghana Shippers Council (GHC) for shipping, security agencies, chambers of commerce and the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) at Takoradi, on Wednesday.

It was on the theme "The re-denomination of the Cedi and its impact on international business transactions".

He said the re-denomination indicated that the country was reducing inflation and stabilising the economy.

Dr. Amoah pointed out that the value of the currencies would remain the same if all Ghanaians worked hard to improve the economic situation of the country.

He stressed that economic stability had to be promoted irrespective of the government in power.

The BOG was undertaking outreach programmes with the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) and the Information Services Department (ISD) on the exercise, he said.

Dr. Amoah said the new Cedi notes and coins would be durable and have a lot of security features to prevent counterfeiting.

He noted, however, that even though the activities of counterfeiters were difficult to eliminate, the BOG would do its best to educate the public on genuine Cedi notes and coins.

Dr. Amoah said the BOG was checking on safes and bullion vans of financial institutions to ensure that they had enough space to keep the new Cedi notes and coins.

He urged Ghanaians to cultivate the habit of savings and patronising the banking system.

Dr. Amoah said the convenience of carriage; simplification of transactions and reduced turn around time at the banks, supermarkets and other departmental stores, were some of the advantages of the exercise. Mr. Kofi Mbeah, Chief Executive Officer of the GHC, said the forum was aimed at keeping the participants abreast with current trends and business dynamics.

He said business entities had to prepare adequately for the change to make their operations smooth.