Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has appealed to citizens to stop talking down the country’s currency, the cedi, as it struggles to gain stability against the US dollar and other major currencies.
The Ghanaian cedi has depreciated astronomically against major trading currencies especially the dollar since the beginning of this year.
This has led to high cost of importation and thereby led to a staggering inflation with citizens lamenting at every turn.
Fuel prices also continue to escalate with no hope of stability any time soon, as oil importers spend more dollars to import the product.
The President in making his point at a national address on the economic challenges facing Ghanaians on Sunday, October 30, 2022, said, “Money doesn’t like noise.”
“Fellow Ghanaians, as the French would say, l’argent n’aime pas le bruit, to wit, money does not like noise, sika mpɛ dede. Where there is chaos, where there is noise, where there is unrest, you will not find the money. If you talk down your money, it will go down. If you allow some unidentifiable person to talk down your money, it will go down.”
“The recent turbulence in the financial markets was caused by low inflows of foreign exchange and was made worse in the last two to three weeks, in particular, by the activities of speculators and the Black Market. An anonymous two-minute audio message on a WhatsApp platform predicting a so-called haircut on Government bonds sent all of us into banks and forex bureaus to dump our cedis, and, before we knew it, the cedi had depreciated further.”
The President noted that “All of us can play a part in helping to strengthen the cedi by having confidence in the currency and avoiding speculation. Let us keep our cedi as the good store of value it is. To those who make it a habit of publishing falsehoods, which result in panic in the system, I say to them that the relevant state agencies will act against such persons.
According to Nana Akufo-Addo, the steps taken so far by the Bank of Ghana to stabilize the cedi will continue until the desired result is achieved.
“Indeed, some steps have been taken to restore order in the forex markets and we are already beginning to see some calm returning. We will not relent until the order is completely restored. The actions taken thus far are enhanced supervisory action by the Bank of Ghana in the forex bureau markets and the black market to flush out illegal operators, as well as ensuring that those permitted to operate legally abide by the market rules.”
“Already some forex bureaus have had their licenses revoked, and this exercise will continue until complete order is restored in the sector; Fresh inflows of dollars are providing liquidity to the foreign exchange market, and addressing the pipeline demand; the Bank of Ghana has given its full commitment to the commercial banks to provide liquidity to ensure the wheels of the economy continue to run in a stabilized manner, till the IMF Programme kicks in and the financing assurances expected from other partners also come in; Government is working with the Bank of Ghana and the oil-producing and mining companies to introduce a new legal and regulatory framework to ensure that all foreign exchange earned from operations in Ghana are, initially, paid to banks domiciled in Ghana to help boost the domestic foreign exchange market; and the Bank of Ghana will enhance its gold purchase programme” the President added.
