The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has unveiled new guidelines to regulate the conduct of Foreign Exchange (FX) Spot Interventions in the local market.
According to the Central Bank, the interventions will be guided by a structured “discretion-under-constraint” framework, aimed at correcting market failures rather than targeting a specific exchange rate level.
The BoG explained that the rule-based approach allows the exchange rate to be largely determined by market forces, while helping to curb excessive short-term volatility without completely eliminating fluctuations.
It noted that FX spot interventions form a key component of the Bank’s broader foreign exchange operations framework, alongside reserve accumulation and FX intermediation.
Rules for spot FX intervention auctions
The Central Bank said it will announce an FX intervention auction when market conditions fall within a defined intervention range.
“The FX intervention shall be announced either on the same day or one day in advance, depending on the timing of the decision. The announcement shall be published via the LSEG Workspace (Refinitiv) Auctions platform and Refinitiv FXT, and will indicate the intervention volume target and other relevant details,” the BoG stated.
Participation in the FX intervention auctions is limited to authorised and licensed FX dealing banks.
Bids submitted must quote the equivalent value in Ghana cedis (GHS) against one unit of the US dollar, expressed to four decimal places.
Bidding process
Authorised banks are required to submit their bids through the LSEG Workspace (Refinitiv) Auctions platform.
In the event of a system-wide failure officially announced by the Bank of Ghana, bids will be submitted via a designated email address using the approved format provided by the Central Bank.
Each participating bank may submit up to three bids, specifying the desired amount and exchange rate in line with the prescribed quotation format.
The minimum bid size has been set at US$500,000, with bids required to be in multiples of US$250,000 and expressed in numerical values.
