The Bank of Ghana has introduced GH¢100 and GH¢200 notes in the country’s currency denomination mix.
It has also introduced GH¢2 coins.
This was announced by the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Ernest Addison at a press conference in Accra on Friday.
Explaining the rationale for the development, the governor said the face value of the cedi compared to the US dollar over the past 12 years had eroded due to sustained periods of high inflation and depreciation.
He believes that the new currencies will help shore up the value of the currency.
“The redenomination exercise at the time was to eliminate four zeros from the existing units of currencies in an attempt to introduce efficiency in the economy and remove the dead-weight burden associated with transactions. At the time of the redenomination, the GH¢1 was equivalent to US$1, the highest denomination then was the GH¢50 which was equivalent to $50. Twelve years after the redenomination exercise, sustained periods of high inflation and the perennial depreciation of the currency has eroded in real terms the face value of the series of notes,” he said.
Since 2015, there have been various rumours about the introduction of new denominations but the Central Bank denied such rumours.
In March 2017, it introduced a new GH¢5 note as part of celebrations marking its 60th anniversary.
The new note continues to be in circulation alongside the already existing note of the same value.
Two years later, in May 2019, it upgraded all the banknotes excluding the GH¢5 and GH¢2 notes.
The upgraded banknotes had enhanced security features in line with evolving changes in the technological landscape.
They also had improved durability and machine readability.
