The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has responded to an article titled “Is Ghana Becoming a Dual Currency State? The Rise of Yellow Currency!” to correct some inconsistencies and misinformation.

The article claimed electronic money was superseding the Ghanaian cedi for which reason strategic measures had to be taken to safeguard the use and relevance of the cedi.

But the Communications Department of the BoG in an interaction with Journalists on Thursday, May 30 clarified that in 2007, when licensing mobile money, Ghana decided on the bank-based model, while other jurisdictions rolled out the telco-based model.

According to BoG, the author of the article confused the telco-based model with the bank-based model as all such services in the country had banks and fintechs (licensed by BoG) behind them with actual transactions in cedis.

The BoG said these back-office services, coordinated by the Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS)—a wholly owned subsidiary of BoG, were not visible to the general public and that was what distinguished Ghana from other telco-based jurisdictions.

“In fact, Ghana is among the few countries that have full interoperability between mobile money wallets and bank accounts and are fully backed by cash floats at corresponding commercial banks, without which settlement won’t happen. Other jurisdictions are now trying to establish such interoperability.”

“That said, the BoG is fully engaged and will continue to monitor this ecosystem to ensure we constantly promote financial stability while balancing that with flexibility for financial inclusion,” the BoG further stated.