Getting money into Ghana takes ten minutes on a phone. Getting it out is a different exercise entirely, and people discover that at the worst possible moment — a school fee deadline, a supplier invoice, a family emergency abroad.
The single most useful thing on this page: set this up before you need it.
Why it is hard
Ghana operates foreign exchange controls under the Foreign Exchange Act 2006 (Act 723). Only institutions licensed by the Bank of Ghana may deal in foreign exchange, and outward transfers are documented transactions rather than button presses.
That is not obstruction for its own sake. The cedi’s history — sixty years of it — is why the controls exist, and they tighten and loosen with pressure on the currency.
The practical consequence is that a bank will not simply move your money abroad because you asked. It needs to know where the money came from and what it is for, and it needs paper for both.
The two kinds of foreign currency account
If you deal with money across borders at all, this distinction decides what you can do:
| FEA — Foreign Exchange Account | FCA — Foreign Currency Account | |
|---|---|---|
| Funded by | Foreign exchange earned in Ghana — exports, services billed abroad | Transfers from abroad only |
| Cash deposits | Accepted | Not accepted over the counter |
| Transfers abroad | Yes | Yes |
The trap is assuming one account does both. If you earn dollars from clients abroad and also hold dollars in cash, you may need both, and paying foreign cash into the wrong one is simply refused.
Open the account in the currency you will need to send. Converting cedis at the moment of transfer means taking whatever rate is available that day, on top of everything else.
What the bank will ask for
Expect to supply, in some combination:
- Purpose of the transfer, with supporting evidence — the invoice, the school’s admission letter and fee schedule, the medical letter, the contract
- Source of funds, and evidence of it
- Your Ghana Card and full account KYC
- A TIN, and for some transfers a tax clearance certificate from the GRA
- For a business: registration documents, and often the last set of accounts
Requirements differ between banks and move with conditions in the market. Ask your own bank for its current outward-transfer checklist in writing, and ask what it does not accept — that is the answer that saves you a second trip.
— Ghana’s regulators, and who to complain to
Common reasons people need this, and what usually works
School fees abroad. One of the better-supported cases. The admission letter and fee invoice in the student’s name are normally what the bank wants. Start a term ahead.
Medical treatment abroad. A referral or letter from the treating facility.
Paying a foreign supplier. A pro-forma invoice, and for goods the import documentation. This is routine for registered businesses with the paperwork in order and painful for anyone improvising.
Repatriating investment income or profits. Legitimate, and the reason GIPC registration matters — a registered investment has a clearer route to repatriating dividends and proceeds than an unregistered one. Register at the outset, not when you want to take money out.
Supporting family abroad. The least well-served case, because there is often no invoice to show. Ask your bank what evidence it accepts before you plan around it.
Taking cash out
You may carry up to $10,000 in foreign currency without declaring it. Above that, declare it on departure.
Carrying cash is not a workaround for a transfer you cannot document. Failing to declare above the threshold risks seizure, and it does not scale.
What not to do
Unlicensed forex dealing is an offence
Only licensed institutions may deal in foreign exchange. The people offering to move money abroad informally at an attractive rate are operating outside the Act, and you have no recourse at all when the money does not arrive — which is a common enough outcome that it is worth stating plainly.
A poor rate through a bank you can complain to beats a good rate through somebody you cannot find.
The same applies to crypto routes marketed as a way around the controls. Whatever their technical merits, they leave you with no regulated counterparty and no complaint procedure, and the rate quoted is rarely the rate realised.
If you will do this regularly
- Open the right account now, in the right currency.
- Build the documentation habit — keep invoices, contracts and evidence of income from the beginning, not from the first transfer.
- Keep your tax filings current. A tax clearance certificate is much easier to get when there is nothing outstanding.
- Ask about corridor pricing. Banks quote both a fee and a rate, and the rate is where the money is. Compare the cedis leaving your account per unit of foreign currency delivered, not the advertised fee.
- Allow far more time than you think. A first transfer through a new bank relationship can take weeks. A tenth one takes days.
— Sending money to Ghana — Receiving money in Ghana — Opening a bank account — Freelancing in Ghana