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Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Johnson Asiama, has revealed that individuals are smuggling large volumes of cash, sometimes exceeding $1 million, out of the country without declaring it — a practice he warns poses serious risks to Ghana’s economy and anti-money laundering efforts.
Speaking on PM Express Business Edition on Joy News, Dr Asiama described such incidents as major “leakages” that undermine financial stability.
“If you look at the currency declaration context framework, for example, the intel we got was that some people actually take out large volumes of cash. People are carrying over a million dollars just out of Ghana without declaring these. Those are leakages,” he stated.
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He stressed that the BoG is working with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and other regulators to ensure accountability. “If you have to carry such large sums, these are accounted for. These are declared. The sources are known. And don’t forget, that’s also good for the anti-money laundering fight that we have on our hands,” he added.
Dr Asiama explained that recent notices issued by the central bank — including restrictions on large cash withdrawals — are designed to close such loopholes, not to frustrate businesses or individuals.
“We are just redefining the framework within which the market has to work and work efficiently. These are things we should have been enforcing, but given the context in which we are, we’ve seen clearly that we need to set those boundaries clearly so that the markets can function and function properly,” he said.
He dismissed claims that the BoG is overreacting to pressures in the financial sector. “No, not at all. We are only taking advantage of what we are seeing to fix the market. It is like you have a soccer match, right? There’s a context within which the game has to be played, and so that’s exactly what we are doing.”
On the controversial notice restricting large foreign currency withdrawals, Dr Asiama explained that the measure targets corporations withdrawing unusually high sums without justifiable use.
“Imagine a corporation wanting to withdraw $10 million over the counter. The fact is, what do they use that for? Because their payments are abroad, they don’t carry physical cash to go and settle anything. And so the point we made there was that corporations like that do not need that cash locally,” he said.
He clarified that ordinary individuals would not be affected. “For individuals like you and me, probably you need your few $100 or $200 to do something; that’s understandable. You can negotiate with your bank … you are at ease to do that.”
Dr Asiama further assured the public that the directives were not imposed arbitrarily. According to him, banks were fully consulted before the measures were rolled out.
“We met with the banks. We met with the CEOs of banks a number of times. We took on board the feedback from them. And so you will see that the banks are silent. They are not complaining. It’s because they were consulted. We thought through this together before the notices were issued,” he said.
The Governor maintained that the central bank is confident the measures will strengthen the system, ensure transparency, and protect the financial market from abuse.
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