BoG warns unlicensed money transfer operators

The Central Bank on Monday promised drastic action against operators of communications centres, saloons, and shops engaged in non-bank financial activities.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) Business Desk in Accra on the money situation in the country, Miss Esi Hammond, a Public Relations Officer of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) said there are licensed money transfer companies and urged the public to deal with them for their own safety.

She asked the public to desist from dealing with such companies since they are fake, not licensed and could disappear with the monies that come into their custody.

Ms Hammond said such persons must be avoided as they most often peddle fake currencies.

She said such unauthorized acts prevent the government from receiving the right amount of foreign exchange needed for the development of the country, adding that, "such persons must be reported to the BoG or the police for necessary action."

She said most Ghanaians are not able to identify fake cedis saying, " people should take the trouble to study and observe the cedi, namely the serial numbers and other details on the cedi notes".

She told GNA that the use of fake currency was increasing, because people do not keep the monies clean and that makes it unidentifiable.

"It is time we have confident in our own money, since people easily identify fake dollars but not cedis" she added.