Forex Bureaux welcome measures but ...

Accra, May 15, GNA - The Ghana National Association of Forex Bureaux (GAFB) on Monday welcomed guidelines from the Bank of Ghana (BOG) to streamline their activities as part of measures aimed at stabilising the cedi.

However, they said, the procedures in the guidelines have the potential of making them lose the competitive urge they have over the banks where questions and lots of details are required for transaction of foreign exchange. Mr Kwasi Fosu Gyabaa, President of the Association, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra that the leadership of the association is yet to meet with its 15 zonal co-ordinators in Accra, Takoradi, Tema and Kumasi to discuss modalities for implementation of the guideline.

However, he said, he is hopeful that they would comply with the directives and submit the receipt books required by the BOG by the close of the day. The Bank of Ghana (BOG) is withdrawing all sales receipt books issued to forex bureaux following new measures on foreign exchange transactions as part of efforts to check the slump of the cedi.

An official of the Non-Bank Financial Department of the Bank of Ghana described the response of the forex bureaux to the directive to submit their sales receipt boos as "Very encouraging" In wide-ranging measures being adopted to streamline the conduct of foreign exchange business in Ghana, the Central Bank reminded forex bureau operators that they are authorised to engage in "spot transactions" only.

"They should desist from accepting either cedis or foreign exchange deposits from any person or corporate bodies with the intent of obtaining or supplying foreign exchange or the cedi equivalent wholly or in part at a future date." The bank said forex bureaux should desist from engaging in high volume transactions, saying they are required to submit particulars of foreign exchange buyers to the Central bank at the end of every month. "The returns should reach the Bank not later than 10 working days after the end of the month for which the report is being submitted."

The BOG reminded the bureaux that they shall not conduct business transactions at exchange rates different from those advertised on their notice boards. The bank said all persons who buy foreign currency from forex bureaux will be required to provide identification in the form of either a passport, driving licence or voter's identification card. "Such document would be verified by the bureau official who would also record the relevant particulars from it."

Mr Gyabaa said in as much as the Association is willing to work with the BOG, the cumbersome nature of the procedures may lead to loss of customers due to the time consuming nature of the procedures entailed by the guidelines. According to him, the forex bureaux are used to spot sale and purchase of currency which require them to enter only the amount, rate and cedi equivalent of all transactions made in their receipt books. "Now, we have to involve the customer and ask a lot of questions including the name, nationality, amount to be changed, rate and address and it will take a lot of time to serve the customer."

Mr Gyabaa said the forex bureaux are yet to adjust to the situation, adding that, "the cut-off period to start implementation of the new guidelines is too short."

He said the public is yet to react to the requirements and called for a public awareness campaign in order for the public to know what is expected of them and not be scared away by the new procedures at the bureaux. Mr Gyabaa said during the discussions with the BOG, members made a number of inputs and requested for an extension of time for submission of particulars on foreign exchange buyers from one week to a month.

He said the question of the exact amount of hard currency to be sold to a customer a day was not definite "indicating that we can still stick to our previous guidelines by selling a maximum of 3,000 dollars a day."

Currently, the average quantity of dollars sold and purchased by each forex bureaux has declined drastically. It has dropped from about 10,000 dollars around August last year to an average of less than a 1,000 dollars since the crisis which saw the dollar being sold between 5,500 cedis and 6,000 cedis and the pound for 7,000 cedis and 8,000 cedis.