The Bank of Ghana (BoG) on Monday denied that it had taken a decision to introduce new higher cedi denominations by the close of the year.

In a telephone interview with the Ghana News Agency on the exact state of transformation that the cedi might undergo in the future, Mr Emmanuel Asiedu-Mante, Deputy Governor BoG said: "even though, we are aware that the cedi has lost some value over the years, no firm decision has been taken on the matter yet. No decision has been taken on the denominations either.

"I must say that though we are seriously considering the matter, I did not say that we are going to do that in the next six to nine months," Mr Asiedu-Mante stressed. "What I said was that the board is seriously looking at the issue and that if a decision was taken at all, it will take about six to nine months before anything will come out."

JOY FM on Monday reported that the Central Bank was going to come out with higher denominations by the end of the year citing depreciation and bulky nature of the current denominations and poor use of cheques in the country.

Mr Asiedu-Mante said before a new denomination was introduced, a lot of work needed to be done; "besides government will have the final say and this has not come yet".

Mr Asiedu-Mante said the Central Bank was encouraging commercial banks to increase the use of cheques and drafts to ease the burden of carrying huge sums of money around town.

"We are urging them to actively promote the use of these money instruments; notwithstanding, the fact that a number of cheques do bounce anyway. "The commercial banks have the power to close down any account that persistently presents dud cheques."