The Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIB) has welcomed moves by the Bank of Ghana to surrender portions of proceeds from cocoa and gold directly to banks.

Previously, the Central Bank was taking all the proceeds from the sale of these commodities and selling to the banks in the form of foreign exchange.

The decision to direct the export earnings on cocoa and gold to commercial banks forms part of a four-stage process to liberalize the foreign exchange market to make it easier for companies to access foreign currency.

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President of the CIB, Clifford Duke Mettle, is optimistic the move “will ensure that foreign currency is moved gradually to banks for use by those who need it.”

Mr. Mettle, who is also the Director of E-Banking, Products and Marketing at uniBank said the reform when implemented would boost the export drive of the various banks.

“When they see the funds coming in, they’ll also now start to look at their programmes so that the export drive is followed through. Banks which do not have export programmes will now start looking at schemes to help the country’s export in general”.