New ¢100, ¢200 notes cost $8.9m to print – Finance Minister

The Finance Minister has told Parliament that $8.9 million was spent to print the new ¢100 and ¢200 notes.

Responding to questions on the Floor of Parliament on Tuesday, Ken Ofori-Atta said $5.39 million has already been paid.

“Information obtained from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) shows that the cost of printing the ¢100 and ¢200 notes is $8.97 million.

“This is made up of $4.45 million and ȼ4.53 million for the ¢100 and ¢200 notes respectively. An amount of $5.39 million of the total contract sum has been paid,” the Minister said.

Mr Ofori-Atta told Parliament, from where Joy News’ Joseph Opoku Gakpo reports, that once the BoG finalises its 2019 financial statements, “details of the cost of the currency management will be provided in the bank’s financial statements.”

The central bank introduced the new high-value denominations in November 2019.

According to the Central Bank, the high levels of inflation and the currency depreciation in the past have eroded some of the gains from redenomination, a reason why the new notes were printed.

“The deadweight burden, reflected in high transaction cost has re-emerged. This set of higher denominations will address this increased transaction cost, especially in high-valued transactions in a cash-based economy.

“Also, the structure of the banknote’s denomination has changed resulting in a shift in demand for higher denominations (GH¢50 and GH¢20 accounts for about 70% of the total demand), reflecting the expansion in income and prices.

“Introduction of the higher value denominations in circulation is, therefore, necessary to ensure customer convenience, reduction in the costs of printing and other currency management processes,” the BoG said.