fbpx

Ghana’s Central Bank To Allow Trading In Chinese Yuan This Year

Ghana’s Central Bank To Allow Trading In Chinese Yuan This Year

Ghana will allow banks to quote yuan rates and sell the Chinese currency this year as more businesses in West Africa’s second-biggest economy trade with the Asian nation.

China’s influence in Africa has increased over the last decade as the Asia’s emerging giant increase trade with the continent, making it the largest trade partner with 24 Sub-Saharan countries.

“Many more people are traveling to China to do business and we think we should make life a bit easier for them,” Bank of Ghana Governor Kofi Wampah told Ghana Web by phone. “It will also ease pressure on the cedi as this will decrease the demand for dollars.”

Ghana’s cedi dropped 20 percent against the dollar in 2013 as companies demanded the U.S. currency to pay for imports in one of the continent’s fastest-growing economies. Traders heading to China need to take dollars that would later be converted to yuan, according to Wampah.

The central bank introduced new currency-trading regulations for banks to improve liquidity and boost transparency, Wampah said, without giving details on the rules.