700bn old cedi notes destroyed

The management of Bank of Ghana has begun destroying the current cedi notes that come into its vaults.

The measure is to create space at the bank's vaults for the new Ghana cedis, which would be in circulation from July 1 2007.

The Ashanti Regional Manager of BoG, Mr Chris Apau Oppong, who announced this said over ¢700 billion worth of the bank's notes had already been destroyed in Ashanti Region alone.

He was speaking at the Ashanti Regional branch of Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) public education campaign on the re-denomination exercise in Kumasi on Friday.

Mr Oppong said all the current bank notes that went to the bank would not be returned into circulation. He urged the banks to take advantage of the re-denomination exercise to encourage non-accounts holders to open accounts with them in order to mob up all cash into the banking system.

Mr Kwame Owusu-Kodua, the General Manager of Banking Services of ADB, said the bank had established currency exchange centres in all its branches and agencies to assist non-accounts holders to exchange their monies.

He said the bank was changing its cheque books to reflect the new currency and advised customers to start requesting for new cheque books to facilitate their transactions.

Source: GNA