Forex bureau operators in Kumasi are accusing wayside currency dealers popularly known as ‘black-marketers’ of killing the business. They blame the Bank of Ghana’s measures to restrict the amount of Dollars the bureaux can sell to the public for the situation. Checks by Luv Biz Report reveal business is booming for illegal dealers, especially, at Alabar, the nerve centre of ‘black-marketing’. The illegal business is dominated by non-Ghanaians who pay no tax to government. Though they will not speak on record, many of them admit they are making it big because they are not affected by the central bank directive. A forex bureau operator who pleaded anonymity said many legal entities in the sector had collapsed as a result, and thinks the Bank of Ghana must act to reverse the trend. “Here in Alabar, the problem is, we have many competitors, that is the black marketers. In the past there were over twenty forex bureau operators here but all have ceased operations due to the black market operations. For every transaction, the Bank of Ghana charges us some fee in addition to a tax. Because these people do not pay any tax, they exchange the currency at cheaper prices. This is killing our business”, he said. Some traders who spoke to Luv Biz Report say they prefer doing business with the wayside operators instead of the forex bureau. According to them, the ‘black marketers’ never run out of foreign currency, in addition to having cheaper rates. “For the banks and bureaux, they always run short of the dollars. When they have it, it’s very expensive so we resort to black-marketers. The secret is most of the business tycoons patronize the black-market operations. For them, they can reduce it to a very low price especially when you buy in large quantum from them”, some traders opined.