its use of policy to promote export growth. increased reliance on market - determined prices will help ensure that the allocation of resources into the export sector does not exceed their efficient use. the goal should be to raise productivity toward world - class standards in all sectors of the economy. recently china ’ s authorities have agreed that some rebalancing of the sources of growth away from exports and toward domestic demand is in order. among china ’ s east asian neighbors, the importance of developing industries to meet demand for domestic uses also is receiving increasing attention. the problem of export restrictions nevertheless, developing production for exports may still be useful for those countries at the lowest rungs of the developmental ladder, and it is surprising that many of the world ’ s poorest developing countries still not only do not encourage an export orientation but in fact maintain a regime of taxes, restrictions, and other policies that effectively discourage it. this problem remains especially serious in some african economies and may help explain why their growth performance has been so disappointing. the primary way that governments discourage exports is by imposing large taxes on them. because high export taxes are one method of obtaining revenue, governments may be attracted to them to solve their budget problems. they may also use these taxes to punish their political opponents, who are often involved in a particular export industry. the government can then distribute the resulting revenue to their supporters. the most pernicious forms of export taxes are those that are hidden through the government ’ s setting a fixed official exchange rate that artificially keeps the domestic currency at a value well above what it would be worth in terms of foreign currency ( say, u. s. dollars ) in a free market. the government then makes it illegal to sell dollars for the larger amount of domestic currency that could be obtained in the black market. the difference between the official exchange rate and the free, black - market rate ( often called the " black - market premium " ) imposes a tax on exporters because they are forced to sell the dollars they earn to the government or to the central bank at the official rate, and thus they receive a much lower price for their goods in terms of the domestic currency. although in recent decades a great many countries have abandoned currency controls and dismantled their black markets, such controls still exist in some of the poorest economies, especially in africa. in some countries, the tax from the black - market premium is confiscatory. an example from history illustrates this point. in 1982 ghana had a black -

advantage of technological changes, innovations and provide a broader regulatory environment for competitive delivery of innovative payment solutions in the country. 9. the improvement in ghana ’ s digital payment systems are also supportive of online transactions aimed at financial inclusion. available data show significant progress in the deployment of electronic payments such as mobile money, payment cards, payment apps, direct debit and credit funds transfer, instant retail payments and virtual cards as alternatives to cash. in particular, mobile money transactions have grown by leaps and bounds. active mobile money accounts has jumped from in 345, 434 in 2010 to over 13 million subscribers with value of transactions of about gh¢223. 2 billion in 2018. 10. distinguished ladies and gentlemen, in spite of the digital revolution and rising use of electronic payments and digital currencies, we continue to see cash dominating transactions across several of our countries within the sub - saharan african region. undeniably, cash still remains the preferred medium of payment by the large informal sector, although trends are gradually shifting towards mobile money in ghana. thus, while making progress in financial inclusion by accelerating the migration to e - payment platforms, we are also mindful of the relevance of cash in our day - to - day dealings. this is why we must commit to the on - going currency feature enhancements and management of cash in circulation. page | 5 11. in this regard, the bank of ghana will continue to monitor the quality of substrates and features of the ghana cedi and take appropriate actions to make the cedi an all - time secured currency. special attention is being devoted to improve the features to make it more resilient to counterfeiting threats and facilitate data collection for cash life cycle analysis of the banknotes. the central bank will also conduct sustained currency awareness campaigns to educate the public on the proper handling of banknotes. 12. distinguished ladies and gentlemen, this seminar provides opportunities for participants to deliberate on currency management and operational issues. a cursory glance at the conference agenda indicates a very tight programme starting off with a closed door central bank workshop on substrate for banknote manufacturing. this would be followed by the plenary sessions on topics such as, ● ethical principles in central banks, ● crypto currencies – the real threats, challenges and future technologies, ● big data and the life cycle of the banknotes, ● the changing role of cits, ● cash handling and circulation models, and ● efficient co - existence of cash and digital payments 13. i can