Accra, May 18, GNA - The Bank of Ghana (BoG) said on Friday that it had laid down the necessary feasibility studies and put enough measures in place to ensure the success and sustenance of the redenomination of the cedi.

According to Dr Ernest K. Addison, Director of Research Department, BoG, the redenomination exercises was very crucial to strengthen the Ghanaian cedi and facilitate business operations through the reduction of the amount of cash that businessmen needed to carry around for transactions.

Mr Addison who was addressing a forum for staff of the Audit Service on Friday urged financial institutions as well as accounting staff to follow the technical guidelines that had been issued by the BoG to ensure a smooth transition.

He said since the new currency would be in circulation alongside the present one for six months, there would be no need for people to rush to exchange their monies.

Dr Addison also addressed public concerns about the joint circulation of existing and the new Ghana cedi for a period of six months, saying it was feasible to do so to enable the people understand the conversion.

"You can still go to any bank and change the old currency after the six month period even though it would have ceased to be a legal tender," he said.

On foreign exchange, Dr Addison said the rates would be displayed as done in the international market. He cautioned the public not to engage middlemen when exchanging their money saying they could be victims to fake currency dealers. He said the new currency had security features built into them to forestall counterfeiting.

Mr Duah Agyemang, Auditor General, said the Audit Service would collaborate with the BoG to ensure that all accounting data were prefixed or converted into the new currency symbol by the stipulated dates. He said the Service would also conduct in-house training and discussions on how new accounting processes were to be done. 18 May 07