The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has warned businesses and individuals to stop pricing, advertising, or demanding payment in foreign currencies, including the US dollar, for goods and services.
In a directive dated Wednesday, August 27, 2025, and signed by Ms. Aimee V. Quashie on behalf of the Secretary, the Central Bank ordered all institutions and individuals to cease unlicensed foreign exchange activities immediately.
The BoG emphasised that the Ghana Cedi is the sole legal tender. Except where duly licensed, no resident is permitted to invoice, quote, or transact in foreign currency.
Banned practices, the BoG said, include black market dealings of schools paying fees in dollars, vehicle and property sales or rentals, airline ticketing, hotel accommodation, online sales, and domestic contracts.
The directive noted that foreign currency invoicing is allowed only for expatriates or non-residents, with proceeds required to be paid into a Foreign Exchange Account at a licensed bank.
Exchange rates must reflect those published by commercial banks and the BoG.
The Bank reassured the public that legitimate external payments can still be made through the formal banking system under existing rules.
Reiterating its zero-tolerance stance, the BoG warned that breaches of the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723) will attract strict sanctions and possible prosecution.
Despite repeated directives from the BoG, some public and private schools continue to charge fees in U.S. dollars, while others, though quoting fees in cedis, still peg them to dollars.
Notably, the GIMPA Law School and the University of Ghana Business School index their fees to the dollar, while institutions such as Liberty American School (LAS), Ghana International School (GIS), École Française Jacques Prévert, and Galaxy International School in Accra continue to bill directly in dollars.
This issue is not new. Back in July 2013, then Deputy Minister of Education for Tertiary Education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, cautioned schools against dollar-denominated fees.
Speaking on an Accra-based radio station, he stressed: “We have raised concern about dollarised fees and we have asked that the practice stop. They have indicated that it is just a benchmark and that you can still pay in cedis at their own exchange rate, but we have said that no, let’s take off the dollars and use cedis. That is a reform which we expect that in the next few weeks we should see happening.”
