President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said that steps are being taken to prevent the Cedi’s continued decline against the US dollar.
According to the President, the development concerns him, as it does the business community and the average Ghanaian.
For some time now, the Bank of Ghana’s foreign exchange rates, particularly for the US dollar, have been considerably different from the prices available in the retail foreign exchange market.
According to analysts, the widening gap between the rates on the two markets is quite normal during the first quarter of the year; however, they attribute the Cedi’s shocking depreciation against the US Dollar on the retail market this quarter to high corporate demand for US dollars, as well as US Dollar demands associated with crude oil purchases, among other things.
While the US Dollar was trading at GH6.43 on the interbank foreign exchange market on February 18, after beginning the year at about GH6, representing a 7 percent depreciation, the greenback is selling for around GH7 in some forex bureaus.
President Akufo-Addo said last week that everything would be done to stabilize the Ghana Cedi.
“I’m aware of the anxiety there is in business circles and throughout the population about the recent depreciation of the Cedi. I’m extremely upset and anxious about it too. But I want to assure you that all efforts are being made to arrest the decline and restore the Cedi to stability in order to improve the competitiveness of Ghanaian industry, and I think very soon you will see some results.”
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SOURCE: CITINEWS
