Is the unique Pesewa piece still valuable in Ghana's economy?

Company News of Monday, June 3, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-06-03

The use of smaller denominations of coins is disappearing because many people give almost no value to the legal tender.

For now, One Pesewa's coins have virtually lost their economic value. In addition to the banking sector and a few other companies that use them for their daily transactions, the rest of the public uses them for decorations and other purposes.

After Ghana decided to leave the British colonial monetary system and adopt the widely accepted decimal system about 54 years ago, cedi and pesewa were introduced on 19 July 1965 to replace books, shillings and the pence of Ghana.

Currently, the coins in circulation are in different denominations of Gh1.00, 0.50p, 0.20p, 0.10p, 0.5p and the piece 0.1p being the smallest.

A visit to the Accra Mall, a few customers who received money from a saleswoman, only left the pieces of a pesesewa in a box from the rest of the rooms received. The product was to be sent to the orphanages who received the sum of a pesawa as donations.

Meet

A visit to the trading area of ​​Kwame Nkrumah, which is also a dynamic business center in the capital, the first bagged water vendor rejected the twenty pieces of the 0 coin, 1 pesewa, but preferred to give water for free.

The hawker asked "what money is it? We do not use this money in Ghana".

A yogurt seller met was greeted with mixed feelings when he received 0.50 pence and fifty pieces of 0.1 pesewa for a total of 1,000 Gh.

He stood up and looked in shock where the 0.1p was coming from. He also rejected the supposedly legal offer.

The second water seller in a bag did not spare a minute of his time to accept the coins. She exclaimed, "we do not use this type of money!"

Until now, there is nothing that the 0.1p coin can buy in Ghana. The rejection is not only due to its tiny brown nature, but also to the amount of twenty pieces to be exchanged for a bag of water.

A peanut lover should part with fifty pieces of 0.1 p; therefore, the quantity factor is another concern of the time when people wanted to have less or no money to be able to carry out basic business transactions.

Interestingly, an image of the lady decorated with legal tender was seen on social media via a Facebook search.

In some upscale hotels in Accra, the currency was used for decoration on a wall as a backdrop for photographs.

According to the reaction of the traders interviewed, the question that arises is whether the Pesesewa coin has any value in the financial spectrum of Ghana.

Degradation of a legal tender

Kofi Ampah, a currency badyst and head of research at Nduom Group, said in an interview with JoyBusiness that it was totally unacceptable that anyone could bribe a legal offer of any country, no matter what. the devaluation of the currency.

"It is not allowed for an individual or an institution to degrade the currency of a country.You can keep this money as a treasure but you can not use it for artifacts or The owners of the currency, in this case, the Bank of Ghana must act against those who degrade the currency, "he added.

Up to now, the items that need to be loaded with fractions are either added to the closest total. In response, Mr. Ampah says that it makes life unbearable for the average citizen, because the least pesesewa is not accepted.