History according to the Bank of Ghana has it that after independence, the West African pound, shillings, and pence remained the units of currency in Ghana until the first currency reforms in July 1958 when the Bank of Ghana issued the Ghana Pound (£G) as the main currency to further consolidate the political independence.
Another currency reform took place in 1965, as Ghana adopted the widely accepted decimal system for its new currency issue, named the ‘cedi’.
The word ‘cedi’ was derived from the Akan word “sedie” meaning cowry shell which was one of the commodities widely used as a medium of exchange (currency) for transactions prior to the colonial era.
The third and fourth currency reforms in 1967 and 1972 respectively, were all undertaken after a military coup d’etat, reflecting the political and economic uncertainty during those periods. Subsequently, in 1979 another currency reform took effect, where the cedi was rediscounted mainly as a tool to control liquidity.
Source: Ghana Web
