BoG with police arrests over 70 ‘Black Market’ forex dealers

More than 70 “Black Market” forex dealers have been arrested by BoG in collaboration with police.

Officials of the Bank of Ghana working with the Ghana Police Service have arrested over 70 persons and companies participating in the foreign exchange market without a license from the apex bank.

The move followed the two institutions’ special operation 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 fast depreciation of the local currency in comparison to the dollar and other major foreign currencies is allegedly caused by “black market” dealers.

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Adjoa Konadu Torto, the head of the Bank of Ghana’s foreign exchange bureau, told Citi News after the exercise that the action is a part of steps to stop the local currency’s wild decline.

“This special operation was part of the Bank’s overall strategy to sanitize the foreign exchange market. Other measures being put in place include enforcement of compliance from licensed foreign exchange bureau particularly with the taking of customer identification (Ghana card) and issuance of electronic receipt for every forex transaction; intensified public sensitization and media engagements to educate the general public on forex rules and regulations, including the need to avoid the black market,” she said.

In the upcoming days, she said, the exercise will continue in other regions of the nation.

The Bank also strongly advised the general public to refrain from using the services of foreign exchange enterprises that operate illegally.

“The Bank cautions the general public to desist from engaging in foreign exchange business without a license. Members of the public who patronize the activities of black-market operators are equally guilty before the law. The general public must always trade with the Bank of Ghana licensed foreign exchange (forex) bureau,” she noted.

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