Cedi depreciation not natural - K.T. Dadzie

The President of the Forex Bureaux Association of Ghana (FBAG), K. T. Dadzie, has confirmed that the recent free fall of the Ghana cedi against the major international currencies is not natural.

He said it was being done by people speculating and trying to make a windfall out of the situation.

He said that manifested greatly last Tuesday when the mere announcement that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) was going to meet the association stabilised the currency and the Ghana cedi started appreciating in value.

Mr Dadzie made the confirmation when the executive of the association called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House in Accra.

The meeting was to discuss issues concerning the forex market and for the government to brief the association on the road map to reverse the current economic challenges, as well as update it on the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Mr Dadzie expressed the hope that the meeting with the President would help in reversing the trend, noting: “I can tell you from what happened yesterday to today that the cedi is already stabilising.”

He indicated that the association was a regulated body which did not have much control over the rates of depreciation of the cedi but had, in the last three months, witnessed volatility which had not been easy for its members, customers and the nation.

He said last Tuesday’s announcement led to the halt in the increasing rate and resulted in the appreciation of the cedi.

“This means that the depreciation is not natural; it is being done by people speculating and trying to make a windfall out of the situation that we are in,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo described the proliferation of the black market and its drive of both the supply and the rate of foreign exchange transactions in the country as “unacceptable”.

The initial impulse for the creation of the forex bureau market was when the economy was being liberalised, during which the framers of the financial architecture tried and found the mechanism to do away with black market operations in the country.

The President noted that the black market had been in Ghana and it had been driving both the supply and the rate of foreign exchange interactions, which was “completely unacceptable”, saying there was the need to find a way to work together to drive the black market out of business.

Delegation

The government’s team included the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare; the Governor of the BoG, Dr Ernest Addison, and the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Rev. Dr Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah.

The rest were the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta; the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen; the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffuor Awuah; the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, and the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah.

Market Women

The President’s team has also met with the Market Women Association, the Ghana Employers Association, the Private Enterprises Federation and the Trades Union Congress.

The meetings are to enable the government to receive inputs into the IMF discussions, as well as the 2023 Budget and Economic Policy of the government.

The President will hold a Cabinet Retreat from today.