Bolgatanga Central lawmaker Isaac Adongo has said the Akufo-Addo administration is bereft of ideas on how to strengthen the Cedi.
He projected the Cedi to hit 17 Cedis per Dollar soon.
The Ghanaian Cedi has crossed the GH¢16 mark against the US Dollar on the currency retail market.
Speaking on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday August 31, Isaac Adongo said “The NPP clearly has no solution to the persistent fall in value of the cedi. Businessmen have lost their capital because of exchange rate losses. The dollar will soon hit 17 cedis.”
The Finance Minister Dr Mohammed Amin Adam stated recently that the Cedi has relatively stabilised against major trading currencies since 2023 although it experienced some recent pressures which have since subsided.
The depreciation of the cedi against the US dollar improved from 54% in November 2022 to 27.8% in Dec 2023 compared to 30.0% in December 2022, he said.
The year-to-date depreciation of the cedi moderated to 7.7% in Q1 of 2024 compared to 22.1% in the same period in 2023. The cedi cumulatively depreciated by 18.6% against the US dollar at the end of June 2024 compared 22% same period in 2023. The cedi cumulatively depreciated against the US$ by 21.5% as at 26th August 2024, compared to 22.1% recorded in the same period in 2023.
“The cedi’s depreciation is, however, easing as the monthon-month depreciation against the US$ improved significantly from 6.1% in May 2024 to 3.1% in June 2024, and further improved to 2.1% in July 2024. The cedi’s relative stability is largely explained by: tight monetary policy by the BoG; the strong fiscal consolidation; intensification of the gold-for-oil programme and the BoG’s gold-for-reserves programme; Deployment of a centralised platform for Foreign Exchange Bureau by the BoG; the implementation of the dynamic Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) to absorb excess liquidity, and revised regulations on advanced payments for imports by the BoG; and positive market sentiments resulting from the disbursement of the third tranche of the IMF Extended.”
Source: 3news.com
