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The circulation of counterfeit notes has been a major challenge for West African countries as fake notes are transited every year, running into millions of dollars.
It is out of this unfortunate development that Central banks across the West African sub-region met to build capacity in fighting fake currency circulation.
Speaking at the workshop organized in Accra on Banknote and Currency Management, the Director of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Chris Kedze raised concerns about the need for central banks to confront the situation head on.
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Mr. Kedze pointed out that the effect of fake notes is devastating to African countries, slowing down economic growth.
“Counterfeiting is as old as main currency was brought into circulation. As soon as banknotes and currencies are issued, there are people who are out there who want to beat the system by making counterfeit so the issue is not how wide it is , we know that it exits so we must try as much as possible to get people educated so that that issue can be minimized”.
He stated that there are always some people who would want to take advantage of ordinary people to circulate fake currencies.
“People are aware that once a central bank issues a banknote or currency there are people out there who are ready to counterfeit it. We must work to counteract it, commercial banks must join in the fight.
In the eyes of the people, this fundamental function of the central bank should be effective, efficient and present no issues that may hurt the reputation of a country, he noted.