The Governor of the Central Bank has been transparent in making clear that his office has written to all banks instructing them not to pay foreign currency to depositors who had already made deposits in foreign currency accounts maintained in the commercial banks of The Gambia. He argued that the Central Bank has power to make regulations and implied that the instruction to order stoppage of payments of foreign currencies from foreign currency accounts as a regulatory measure.
Foroyaa is searching for any Gazette that has been published containing any regulation of such a nature. It is not clear whether any regulation had been made in that regard though it is a legal requirement for regulations to be published in the Gazette as subsidiary legislation before they could become law.
Foroyaa is advising very strongly that the state abandons executive type of governance and stick to the rule of law type of governance. Hence we will enquire from the banks whether they are still abiding by executive order or have equally sought legal advice to seek a reversal of the order in order to save their relation with their customers. Gambia’s security for accessing foreign exchange is not coming from poor exports. It is coming from huge remittances deposited in the banking system as well savings in foreign currencies in foreign currency accounts. In the past such monies were kept in houses or in foreign accounts abroad and sent home when there are favourable exchange rates to conduct business transactions. We will get to the truth of the matter and share it with the readers. Prudence will prevail.
