Ghana Opens Cedi-to-Yuan Payment Gateway

On 24 September 2026, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Johnson Asiama announced that Ghana and China will be able to settle transactions with China directly with the Cedi local currency, without resorting to the US dollar. The announcement came during the press briefing following the Monetary Policy Committee meetings.

Stanbic Bank has already received regulatory approval and will kick off the pilot Cedi-to-Yuan gateway. It is a subsidiary of South Africa-headquartered Standard Bank Group, which is partially owned by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. holding a 20% share. Ghana Commercial Bank is Ghana’s largest domestic bank and will follow suit soon.

The cross-border transaction is possible thanks to the implementation of China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (#CIPS), which is the Chinese version of SWIFT. Under CIPS, transactions registered by 2 pm on a given day will be completed by the next business day. As opposed to Nigeria and Egypt, to name a few, Ghana has not set a transaction limit through a Bilateral Currency Swap Agreement.

China is the largest trading partner of Ghana, with bilateral trade volume exceeding USD 14 billion in 2025. China’s exports to Ghana reached USD 11.4 billion, while Ghana’s exports to China only managed USD 2.7 billion. The large trade deficit by Ghana is explained by the structural imbalance as Ghana exports mostly low value-added goods such as crude oil, and manganese ore, cocoa nuts, while China exports high-value manufactured goods such as electronics, vehicles and machinery.