Ghana has begun allowing importers to use the Ghanaian cedi to pay for eligible imports from China, reducing the need for businesses to source US dollars for bilateral trade in a move that could further challenge Washington’s efforts to preserve the dollar’s dominance in global commerce.
The development comes as China deepens its economic engagement with Africa and the administration of US President Donald Trump pursues tougher trade policies, including tariffs and trade conditions designed to protect American industries and strengthen the United States’ bargaining position with trading partners.
Bank of Ghana Governor, Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama, disclosed the new payment arrangement at the 132nd Monetary Policy Committee press briefing, saying Stanbic Bank Ghana is already piloting the system.
“As we speak, if you want to buy anything from China, just go to Stanbic Bank with your cedis. You are able to do that,” Asiama said.
According to the governor, Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) is also developing a similar arrangement, as the central bank seeks to make it easier for Ghanaian businesses to pay Chinese suppliers without first converting their cedis into US dollars.
The arrangement is supported by Stanbic Bank’s access to China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), a payment network authorised by the People’s Bank of China for settling eligible cross-border transactions in yuan.
Under the arrangement, eligible Ghanaian businesses can initiate yuan payments from their cedi accounts without necessarily maintaining a yuan-denominated account. Customers select the Chinese currency as the payment currency and submit the required documentation.
Stanbic Bank Ghana Chief Executive Officer, Kwamina Asomaning, said CIPS provides businesses with a more direct route to Chinese counterparties, reducing dependence on US correspondent or intermediary banks.
The development could have broader implications as Washington continues to use tariffs and market-access conditions as instruments of economic policy under Trump. While the Ghana-China arrangement is relatively small in global terms, a broader shift by developing economies towards direct local-currency and yuan-based settlements could gradually reduce demand for the US dollar in international trade.
China has also moved to strengthen its trade relationship with Africa. From May 1, 2026, Beijing extended zero-tariff treatment to all 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations, creating greater opportunities for African exporters seeking access to the Chinese market.
The policy gives China an additional economic advantage at a time when some African countries are seeking to diversify their trading relationships and reduce exposure to external trade pressures.
China accounted for 22.3 per cent of Ghana’s imports in 2024, according to Stanbic Bank, underscoring the importance of the Chinese market to Ghanaian businesses.
For Ghanaian importers, the immediate benefit of the new payment system is the ability to fund eligible Chinese purchases directly from cedi balances without first obtaining US dollars. For China, the arrangement also helps promote the international use of the yuan and its own payment infrastructure.
The move, however, should not be interpreted as a major or immediate blow to the United States. Ghana’s trade volume is too small to materially undermine the dollar on its own. The bigger concern for Washington would be the emergence of a wider trend in which African and other developing economies increasingly settle trade with China in yuan or local currencies rather than dollars.
If that trend expands, it could gradually reduce the dollar’s role as an intermediary currency and weaken one of the advantages the United States derives from its central position in the global financial system.
Ghana’s move therefore represents more than a banking innovation. It is another indication that China’s expanding trade relationships, yuan-based payment infrastructure and preferential access to African markets are creating an alternative channel for international commerce—at a time when Trump’s tariff-driven trade strategy is encouraging some countries to reconsider their dependence on the United States.
The immediate impact on America may be limited, but the long-term significant issue might be whether Washington’s trade policies could unintentionally accelerate the very diversification away from the dollar that US economic power has traditionally benefited from.
