Tracing activities of ‘Black Market’ operators could stop illegal supply of dollars from banks, BoG staff – GUTA
The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), is calling on the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to go beyond flushing-out the activities of Black Market operators and also investigate its own staff and some banks, aiding illegal activities in the black market by supplying dollars to operators.
According to the association, although the move by the Regulator to clamp down on activities in the Black Market is a bold step, probing and prosecuting persons connected to banks and the BoG for supplying dollars to the Black Market is equally important.
President of GUTA Dr. Joseph Obeng, who spoke to Joy Business after his re-election as Leader of GUTA alleged that some of the Black Market operators come with bundle of money with BoG stamps on them.
“We have seen the BoG stamps and all that on some of the money. This means that they [Black market operators] are not working in isolation, but in connivance with the banks. Some of these Banks trade in forex as a commodity when they get it they sell it to their clients”, he alleged.
Dr. Obeng urged the BoG to engage the services of the BNI to trace the supply of some of the foreign currencies that get to the Black Market to stop the supply from the source.
“They [BoG] should use Black Market operators as scapegoat once they are arrested to trace the link that these operators are having with the Banks”.
He is of the view that such an exercise will expose a lot of rot in the financial sector which will lead to the regulator arresting bank officials and some of its own staff engaged in the illegal sale of dollars to Black Market operators.
The advice follows a distress action embarked by the Bank of Ghana in collaboration with the Ghana Police Service on Monday 16th September, 2022 arresting over 76 illegal foreign exchange dealers operating in the Black Market to save the cedi from further depreciation.
Source: Ghana News
