President of the Association of Bullion Operators Ghana (ABOG), Alhaji Iddi Sumaila has assured that members of the association have the capacity to procure enough proper bullion vehicles, provided the banks can offer good contracts.
He disclosed that some of the operators had imported about forty to sixty bullion vehicles into Ghana.
“One of our members has brought in about 60 bullion vehicles and my company has 40, so we have the capacity. If you talk about capacity, with the collaborative effort of our banks and financial institutions, we can manage to bring in the vehicles. Also, if any bank gives us a good contract that is a guarantee to get the vans in, we will. If they don’t give us a good contract, how can we get the vans in?” Alhaji Iddi Sumaila told Johnnie Hughes on 3FM Sunrise.
According to President ABOG, those banks such as ADB who have given them the contracts have been supplied with the armoured bullion vans already.
He again disclosed that a proper bullion van costs between $90,000 and USD $120,000. However, there are companies in Ghana that do retrofitting of light skin vehicles by armouring them to fit for purpose.
The Bank of Ghana has directed banks to desist from using soft skin bullion vehicles for cash-in-transit operations effective Monday 26 June, 2023 instead of the initial July 1, 2023 deadline.
Some stakeholders have asked BOG to allow the banks some time considering the recent challenges financial institutions in Ghana have gone through and the impact of the domestic debt exchange on their operations.
However, ABOG has assured that its members are willing and able to provide the banks with the armoured bullion vans if they are contracted.
By Samuel Afriyie Owusu|3news.com|Ghana