Banking consultant Dr. Richmond Atuahene has dismissed claims that the Bank of Ghana is acting out of panic following its recent clampdown on the foreign-exchange and remittance markets.
His remarks come as the cedi shows signs of reversing months of gains, heightening scrutiny of policy measures aimed at curbing further depreciation.
The Central Bank last week suspended the remittance partnerships of five money transfer operators including Taptap Send, Top Connect, Remit Choice, Send App and Afriex for one month and also imposed a one-month suspension on the foreign-exchange trading license of United Bank for Africa Ghana, citing regulatory breaches.
For banking consultant, Dr. Richmond Atuahene, remittance inflows are critical to stabilising the cedi, and the BoG’s sanctions against non-compliant operators are justified. He stressed that the measures reflect regulatory enforcement rather than panic.
“It is not a panic reaction. Last year when they [BoG] suspended CBG [Consolidated Bank Ghana] and TapTap Send, it wasn’t a panic reaction. At that time a dollar was about GHȼ17 or GHȼ16 but today they have managed to manage it and we are talking about GHȼ12 [to a dollar] and people think it is a panic. No. Every country especially in developing world or the emerging economies where remittances play a key part of their balance of payment, it is not [panicking].
“Those who say they [BoG] are panicking, I don’t know what they mean by panicking. Last year, the previous government did the same thing. Was it panicking? It is not panicking. Once we license you, there are sanctions for non-compliance of the issues so I don’t subscribe to the panic issue,” Dr. Richmond Atuahene said in an interview with Citi Business News.
The Central Bank has meanwhile cautioned all players in the foreign exchange and remittance markets to strictly adhere to existing regulations and guidelines.
