By: Kebba AF Touray
The Governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia, Mr. Buah Saidy, has revealed that the Bank has recently received D8 million coins contrary to the rumor of shortage of coins in the country.
Governor Saidy made this revelation on Wednesday 8th September 2021, during the question-and-answer segment of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at the Central Bank of The Gambia.
“There is no shortage of coins. In addition to what we have in stock, the Central Bank recently received D8 million worth of coins from the Royal mint. There is no shortage of coins but the Central Bank cannot go out there to give out coins to the people,” he said.
Governo Saidy said the exchange window is there and that people should go to the bank and demand for coins to be able to get coins, adding that there is adequate coin that the county can use for years without shortage.
He said there is an adequate supply of notes too. However, he said people need to understand that it is not the responsibility of the bank to provide fresh notes to people.
“These notes cost a huge chunk of money to print. We spend millions of dalasi to print these notes. The responsibility of the Central Bank is not to put out fresh notes, but to ensure that the notes used are clean, decent and reusable,” he said.
Saidy also said the story that he went to Nigeria to arrange for the printing of the Gambian currency from Abuja is false and inaccurate. He reiterated that they did not travel to Nigeria to negotiate for any printing of the Gambian currency. He further said The Gambia’s currency continues to be printed by De La Reu, who prints the Gambian dalasi notes, and that the Royal Mint mints the Gambian dalasi coins.
The governor said if there is an improvement in government policies, the deficit would shrink and that the deficit is widening due to the shrink in revenue and grants. He said due to the pandemic, the implementation of projects has stalled which has resulted in the reduction in inflow of grants.
“The Gambian revenue like any other country has gone down due to the deceleration in business activities because of COVID-19 and has also shrined the economy and as a result the deficit has widened. What I said which was misinterpreted is that there is so much liquidity in the banking system,” he said.
