If the security agencies don’t help to fight cross-border illegal transfers there is nothing BoG can do – Addison

3 News

Wed 27th Mar, 2024 11:07

Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison, has asked the security agencies to play their role in the fight against cross-border illegal transfers.

He says that there is nothing the central bank can do about it if the security agencies do not help.

Dr Addison indicated that although the Bank hears rumors of these illegal transfers, it is not taking the matter lightly.

He said these while answering a question regarding rumors of illegal transfers from Ghana to counties such as Nigeria, during the 117th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) press conference in Accra on Monday, March 25.

Dr Addison, in answering this question said that Nigeria is currently saddled with a crisis related to the challenges posed by its currency, the Naira.

He said this is similar to what Ghana went through in 2022 when inflation kept rising, coupled with the rapid depreciation of the Cedi.

Dr Addison said “Nigeria is in quite a bit of trouble, especially on the foreign exchange market side. Because of the multiple currency practices that were in place until the recent change, so the Naira has seen a very large depreciation and at the same time the removal of the subsidies on petrol so the cost of living in Nigeria has shot up.

“Nigeria is going through the crisis that we went through in 2022, they are going through theirs now and the corrective measures are no different from the corrective measures that we have put in to manage their fiscal policy properly and then also ensure that the monetary policy tools are used as they should be, to focus on the primary objective of the central bank, not to use the central bank resources to buy rice, that is not what central banks are supposed to do.

“I think they are refocusing on their primary mandate by managing liquidity in the economy aimed at ensuring price stability.

“We all hear all these rumors about cross-border illegal transfers and we are counting on our security agencies to assist us to enforce these rules at the border points, at the airport, and at some of the exits of the country.

“If the security agencies do not help, there is nothing the Bank of Ghana can do about that, so they have to play their role to ensure that the rules are enforced. But we haven’t seen nor had any evidence of any transfers from the banks to Nigeria, we are very much focused on the banks, and we are looking very closely at all their transactions. It is not a matter we are taking lightly, and I think the banks are sitting up,” Dr Addison said.

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