The Bank of Ghana has disclosed that the introduction of the Letter of Commitment module (LOC) by the Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet) for the Central bank had saved the country $3 billion so far.
According to the Head of Foreign Banking Operations at the Bank of Ghana – Eric Hammond: the GCNet’s LOC had been introduced to the BoG to aid the tracking of repatriated export proceeds into Ghana beginning from the 1st of July 2016.
Over the last one year of its implementation – specifically July 2016 to July 2017, the government has recorded accumulated revenue from export repatriations amounting to over $4.2 billion.
There are currently thirty-three commercial banks in the country participating in the GCNet’s LOC system primarily in the processing of Bank pre-registration as well as remittances registration for various applicants.
Praising the improvements brought about by the introduction of the system, Mr. Hammond noted that the GCNet’s LOC has provided a 100% paperless platform for easy and immediate reconciliation of all export proceeds repatriation or funds transfer transactions.
In an address to participants of the 2017 GT Bank sponsored stakeholders’ forum organized for Ghana’s Importers and Exporters, Mr Hammond reiterated an earlier call made by the President Nana Akufo– Addo for the adoption of the system across the industry.
He pointed out that the system is meant to expedite export repatriation transactions; provide an effective measure for checking exporters who default on making due repatriations and as result; increase the availability of foreign exchange to boost the domestic’s forex market as well as facilitate the stability of the Ghana Cedi at the inter-currency trading front.
If the Ghanaian government achieves full compliances to the system by all stakeholders in the import and export industry, there is no doubt that it would mean enormous financial potential to the economy which is in critical need of funds from non-aid or borrowing sources.