The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested 41 suspects in a major crackdown on illegal foreign-exchange (forex) trading in Accra, recovering over GH¢1.2 million in cash during the operation.
The joint raid, carried out with the Bank of Ghana (BoG) targeted known forex “black-market’’ hotspots such as Tudu, Circle, the Airport area and Cantonments. At a press briefing, CID Director-General, Lydia Yaako Donkor, revealed that 29 suspects (including Togolese, Beninois, Nigerians and Ghanaians) were arrested in the initial swoop, with 12 more taken into custody during a follow-up raid.
Alongside the arrests, authorities seized GH¢1,266,770 in cedis, 100,000 CFA francs, 3,383,570 Nigerian naira (some stored digitally) and US $5,105. All cash exhibits have been secured and will be handed over to BoG, with suspects to be charged and brought before court.
The Chronicle finds the mass arrests by the CID and BoG commendable and long overdue. For years, black-market foreign exchange trading has thrived in Accra’s crowded markets and street corners with the kind of illicit activity that undermines formal economic systems.
The operation sends a strong signal that Ghana’s authorities are serious about enforcing the laws laid out under the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723), which prohibits foreign-exchange business without a valid licence from BoG.
But applauding the arrests should not blind us to the deeper structural malaise that fuels the black market. Economic experts, including Godfred Bokpin of the University of Ghana, warn that thriving parallel-market forex activity stems not simply from criminal opportunism, but from a widespread distrust of official exchange-rate mechanisms.
Many Ghanaians, businesses and individuals alike, view rates quoted by banks and licensed forex bureaus as artificially managed, lagging behind real demand and supply. Indeed, the informal forex market continues to draw customers because it offers convenience, quick transactions, flexible pricing and no paperwork. As long as official channels remain slow, bureaucratic, or fail to meet demand, people will gravitate toward illicit dealers.
The damage, however, extends far beyond individual deals. When forex trading is pushed underground: The value of the Ghana cedi weakens, as demand for foreign currency outstrips what official channels can supply. This accelerates inflation, raises import costs and erodes purchasing power.
The informal system becomes a channel for money-laundering, tax evasion, and other illicit financial activities, undermining transparency and regulatory oversight. Businesses especially import-dependent small and medium enterprises find it harder to plan or budget, because of unpredictable access to foreign currency and volatile exchange rates.
What the arrests do, therefore, is not just punish a handful of wrongdoers. They are part of a broader effort to restore trust in the formal forex market, to reinforce the primacy of the Ghana cedi as the sole legal tender, and to bring transparency back into currency exchange.
Yet if Ghana is serious about stamping out the “parallel” forex economy permanently, enforcement alone will not suffice. What is needed urgently is structural reform: Official channels must become more efficient, responsive, and accessible.
This means streamlined processes at licensed forex bureaus and banks, more liquidity and better services that meet real demand.
Transparency in rate-setting: exchange rates quoted by official bureaus must reflect real supply/demand conditions and institutions must rebuild public confidence in their integrity.
Stronger public education: many do business informally because they believe the unofficial rates are “fairer” or more real.
Robust public information campaigns are required to explain why dealing outside the system imposes hidden costs on the currency and ultimately on citizens.
Moreover, the recent policy shift by the government mandating that all government contracts be priced strictly in cedis further underscores the urgency of these reforms.
It is a vital move to defend the cedi and reduce overreliance on foreign currencies in the domestic economy.
The crackdown on 41 undocumented forex traders is a necessary jolt. But if Ghana is to decisively end the era of black-market forex, the authorities must go beyond enforcement.
They need to restore trust, improve official systems, and show that the regulated market can meet citizens’ real-world needs.
Otherwise, today’s arrests will just be a temporary disruption, and the underground forex economy will bounce back because the problem was never just about illegal dealers. It was, and remains, about structural failure in the regulated system.
In short: arresting black-market operators is essential. But more essential still is earning the public’s trust by fixing the official forex system so well that no one wants or needs to trade on the streets again.
The post Editorial: Crackdown On Illegal Foreign-Exchange Trading Is Good But… appeared first on The Ghanaian Chronicle.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS