Regulate 'black market' sector – Shippers to BoG

The Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana has called on the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to take immediate steps to regulate one of the fastest-growing illicit money markets, the black market.

It is an underground market for the exchange and sale of hard currencies.

It is also an economic activity that takes place outside government-sanctioned channels.

Black market transactions usually occur “under the table” to let participants avoid government price controls or taxes.

The goods and services offered in a black market can be illegal, meaning their purchase and sale are prohibited by law, or they can be legal but transacted to avoid taxes.

Black markets are also known as shadow markets or underground markets.

The association is of the view that the activities of the black market in the country have come to stay hence the need for the Bank of Ghana to regulate that sector of the economy.

The Executive Secretary of the Association, Samson Asaki Awingobit made this call in an interview with Kwame Appiah Kubi on the ‘Ghana Yensom’ morning show on Accra100.5FM.

He explained that the activities of Black Marketers in the country have been booming in the shipping sector, streets, and some parts of Accra.

He added that huge sums of local currency in exchange for dollar bills for payment for services offered at the ports of entry are on the rise.

According to him, the sector cannot go unregulated adding that the sector plays a major role in the illicit acts of capital flights from Ghana.

He warned that if the central bank fails to find ways and means to regulate the sector, the country will continue printing money to shore up the cedi against the dollar.

He suggests the central bank venture into regulating the sector instead of clamping down on the perpetrators in the sector.

“Black Market has come to stay and it is the duty of the BoG to device measures to have the sector regulated because it has become part of the system. It is big business in the country,” he stressed.

“If the Bank of Ghana cares to know there are huge sums of cedis chasing the dollar at the port,” he noted.

He said there is no need for the central bank to continue to show heavy-handedness on the activities of black marketers in the country but rather stressed that they must be regulated.