It has emerged that government spent 8.97 million US dollars in printing the new 100 and 200 Ghana cedi notes. The new notes also came with a new GHS2:00 coin.
The revelation was made on the floor of Parliament by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, during a response to a question on how much was spent on the exercise.
“This is made up of US$4.45 million and US$4.53 million for the 100 and 200 cedis respectively. An amount of US$5.39 million of the total contract has been paid. The Bank of Ghana is in the process of finalizing their financial statement for 2019. Further details of the currency management will be provided in the financial statement,” he explained.
The central bank issued the new denominations on November 29 2019, and according to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana; Dr. Ernest Addison, the move was meant to shore of the value of the Ghana cedi.
He explained that the the face value of the cedi compared to the US dollar over the last twelve years had eroded.
It also insisted at the time that the higher denominations were going to help with customer convenience; efficiency in high-value transactions in cash; and reduce the cost of printing as well as currency management including processing, transporting, and storing banknotes.
Though some economists had predicted a possible inflation due to the action, the Bank of Ghana dismissed such claims saying that higher denominations were introduced to only ease high-volume transactions.
Some had also questioned the rationale behind the printing of the new denominations when efforts were underway by African leaders in the West African sub-region to get West Africa’s currency, Eco running soon.