The daily publishing of foreign exchange rates, which sets the rates lower than those offered on the retail or forex market, has been defended by the Bank of Ghana.
The rates are a weighted average of transaction rates gathered and compiled from the commercial banks and made available to customers, claims the Central Bank.
Some people have criticized the Central Bank for publishing foreign exchange rates that don’t correspond to the current rates on the retail market.
Responding to inquiries at the Public Accounts Committee, First Deputy Governor Dr. Maxwell Opoku Afari stated that the Central Bank’s rates are a weighted average of transaction rates that the banks disclose as indicative rates.
“The Bank of Ghana does not have the Bank of Ghana rate as we speak. So, what is being twitted is our indicative rates…transaction rates collected from commercials banks at the end of the previous day at 3pm. The weighted average [of banks] based on transaction volume and then published for the benefit of the general public.”
“The difference you see from the commercial banks is that when you go to your bank this morning, they would have published an indicative rate but not a transaction rate. So when you see ¢13 or ¢12 , the bank is saying that as you come to my bank, you may get this rate but depending on the type of transaction you want, you may even get it ¢10 or ¢11”, he explained.
Dr. Opoku-Afari pointed out that there is huge margin between the indicative rate and the previous day transactional rate.
“So you look at the indicative rate and you compare it to their previous day’s transactional rates, you will see a huge margin. The transaction rate is not different from what Bank of Ghana publishes”, he continued.