The Bank of Ghana (BOG) has called on Ghanaians to use non-cash systems like cheques and credit cards in transaction to improve the performance of the national economy.

Speaking at a seminar on the "Significance of non-cash payment system" organised by the Takoradi branch of BOG on Wednesday, the Head of the Research Department, Mr Franklin Belnye said reliance on cash transactions was inefficient, costly and could not support the trading needs of an aspiring middle-income country like Ghana.

He said the use of cash also made it difficult to monitor the circulation of money, check inflation and make correct tax assessment for revenue generation.

Mr Belnye noted that apart from the risk of taking cash through hazards like robbery and fires, cash users also stood at a disadvantage to obtaining credit from the banks to expand their businesses.

He said fears associated with the use of non-cash system like dud cheques, long period of clearing cheques and inability of the illiterate person to interpret figures on cheques have all been eliminated through highly improved security check systems in banking operations.

Mr John K. Agbokpe, Head of the Issue Department of BOG, said the Central

Bank spends huge sums of money to print paper money and mint coins and transport them from a foreign country into Ghana where they wear off quickly because of frequent use.

He said this situation must be minimised with the use of non-cash payments to enable the government save money for more profitable ventures.

The Head of Domestic Banking of BOG, Mr Kwesi Bentil advised cash users to accept lower denominations of the cedi since they were still legal tender.

He said in order to encourage the use of all denominations of the cedi the commercial banks have been ordered to pay 20 per cent of cash payments in the lower denominations of the cedi to their customers.

The Acting Western Regional Manager of BOG, Mr Cyril N. Barnor said the outfit was carrying out an educational campaign on the use of non-cash payment systems to a cross section of the public in the markets, churches and workplaces.