GHS100, GHS 200 notes’ll increase corruption – Avedzi

Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), James Klutse Avedzi is worried that the introduction of the new GHS100 and GHS200 banknotes by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) will heighten corruption in the country.

The Governor of the central bank announced the introduction of the new notes at a press conference in Accra on Friday, 29 November 2019 with the explanation that the move is aimed at addressing the deadweight burden on the economy from the past inflation and cedi depreciation.

The BoG also introduced GHS2 coin.

However, the deputy Minority Leader holds the view that: “It makes transactions very easy but I said it breeds corruption because people prefer to carry cash now. Where the denomination is small it is difficult to carry cash so you want to put your money at the bank and carry your chequebook”.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ketu North has also criticised the BoG for failing to make public the cost of printing the new notes and the volume of fresh banknotes that have been printed and introduced into the system.

“In printing new notes, you are not replacing existing notes. Once you are printing new notes, first of all, we need to know how much you are printing. It is an addition to what is circulating in the system…Secondly, what is the cost of printing?” He questioned, after the announcement of the new high-value notes.

Mr Avedzi also admonished members of governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to brace themselves to dish out GH200 notes during party primaries as delegates will not accept GHS 50.

“You can easily carry and do transactions in cash. Next year is going to be an election, delegates want to hold the higher denomination and the NPP, those of them who are going to do primary in 2020 should not think of giving GHS 50 notes to their delegates they should be thinking of giving GHS 200 to the delegates,” he journalists on Friday.

Meanwhile, the introduction of the notes has divided public opinion with some analysts arguing that it could cause a rise in inflation while other economists hold a contrary view.