Economist Professor Lord Mensah has projected a possible increase in inflation, due to the introduction of the New One Ghana Cedi Coin by the Bank of Ghana.
The Bank of Ghana has presented a New One Ghana Cedi coined, designed with enhanced security features targeted at managing fraud incidents. This was stated in a press statement issued on December 6th, 2022, and expected to be in circulation, from Monday the 12th of December.
According to Prof. Lord Mensah, even though the security aspect is genuine and assured, the introduction of the new cedi coin is likely to inflate prices of goods despite its assured security.
“Normally, when a new denomination is being introduced, one of the main reasons could be security and the other one could be the consumption band of individuals who are in the economy. One dangerous thing about this is that, though the security measures are genuine reasons for introducing the new currency, another thing is that, if you keep on introducing new coins, you tend to shift the consumption band, there will come to a time where people will become comfortable to buy even ice water with that one-cedi coin.”
The new GH₵ 1.00 coin is described as bi-metallic with an outer gold and inner silver having pronounced rough edge. It incorporates a latent image, which appears in a rectangular form below the Scale of Justice at the back. The latent image of the radiating star transforms into a one Ghana cedi symbol which is in between two stars when the coin is tilted, as a security feature.
Story Written By: Deborah Yakohene
