?10,000, ?20,000 notes coming

The Bank of Ghana will introduce higher currency denominations of ?10,000 and ?20,000 before the end of the year. The existing currency notes in all denominations would continue to circulate side by side the higher ones.

A statement issued in Accra and signed by the Bank?s Secretary, James Odei said the introduction of the higher denomination has become necessary because of the burden in volumes of notes people carry with them for transaction.

In addition, pressure is put on the various Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) coupled with the unreasonably long periods spent to cash money from the banks and ATMs. The relatively high cost of replacing mutilated currency notes is another factor, which necessitated the introduction of the higher denominations.

Printing cost of the new notes and quantities of existing ?1,000, ?2,000 and ?5,000 denominations is estimated at ?110 billion. The Bank also made a savings of about ?13 billion by opening the printing programme to competition through selective tender process.

The major factors considered during the evaluation were appropriate security features, price competitiveness, track record and experience in other countries, concept origination and design. The Central Bank assured the public that it will mount extensive public education on the new features of the new notes.