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Ghana spent about $8.97 million (approximately $9m) on printing the new 100 and 200 cedi notes which were introduced in November last year.
The country’s Minster of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta made the disclosure on the floor of Parliament, Tuesday.
“This is made up of $4.45 million and $4.53 million for the GHS100 and GHS200 notes respectively,” the Minister, who was responding to questions on the process in Parliament explained.
Why new Cedi notes?
In November 2019, Ghana’s central bank announced the introduction of GHC100 and GHC200 notes.
This means the current highest note in the country GHC50 will cease to enjoy that relevance.
A GHC2 coin has also been introduced.
Briefing the media on the move, the governor of the Central bank said: “The redenomination exercise aimed to eliminate four zeros from the existing units of currencies in an attempt to introduce efficiency in the economy and removes the dead-weight burden associated with transactions.
Move questioned
Many Ghanaians, including CSOs had questioned the move by the Central Bank.
The Ghana Union Traders Association (GUTA) for instance said at the time that the move was unnecessary.
“The timing is very wrong for this denomination, it’s completely wrong and even if they will do, 100 cedis currency would be much better but to go in for 200 cedis… that’s too hilarious. It means you are telling Ghanaians of inflation depreciation which won’t help the economy, secretary of the Greater Accra Regional Branch of GUTA, Nana Poku.
”The decision portrays the NPP government as one in disarray. All the efforts we’ve made struggling for inflation to come down over the years, we will end up having it go up again. For us, we don’t think it’s necessary and needed at this era,” he posited.
By Jonathan Ofori, Daily Mail GH | Email: Joevica18@gmail.com
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