Over 70 people and businesses engaged in the business of purchasing and selling foreign currencies without a license from the top bank have been detained by Bank of Ghana employees working with the Ghana Police Service.
The action comes after a special operation the two organizations carried out on foreign exchange parallel market operators, also known as black market operators.
It is anticipated that the offenders who were found at hotspots in Accra’s Central Business District, notably Rawlings Park, Makola, and Tudu, will be prosecuted.
The rapid devaluation of the local currency in comparison to the dollar and other important foreign currencies is allegedly caused by “Black Market” sellers.
Adjoa Konadu Torto, the head of the Bank of Ghana’s foreign exchange bureau, said in a statement to Citi News following the exercise that the action is a part of steps to stop the local currency’s wild decline.
The Bank’s overarching plan to clean up the foreign currency market included this special operation. Other actions being taken include “intensifying public sensitization and media engagements to educate the general public on forex rules and regulations, including the need to avoid the black market; enforcement of compliance from licensed foreign exchange bureaux, particularly with the taking of customer identification (Ghana card) and issuance of electronic receipt for every forex transaction,” she said.
