The Ghana Union of Traders (GUTA) has asked the government to reconstitute the committee set up to investigate the causes of the cedi depreciation and recommend solutions to the phenomenon.
President of GUTA Dr. Joseph Obeng says the cedi depreciation coupled with other crises.
He noted that the depreciation of the cedi against other major trading currencies is getting out of hand, and the increase in the monetary policy rate is also leading to a high lending rate in the country.
He lamented that the challenges confronting them have threatened the very survival of businesses of their members.
He stressed that the government must immediately reconstitute the committee set up by the Ministry of Finance known as the Foreign Exchange Committee made up of stakeholders to solicit ideas to tackle the situation head-on.
“It could be recalled that since December 2021 when the dollar was 6.4 cedis, our working capitals have been depleted by 40%. Now that, the dollar has reached about 9.00 cedis, our worst fear is that we are now going to make Christmas orders from our suppliers, which may aggravate the situation.
For them, as business owners, their worst fear is if the situation is not put under control it could reach a point where they could be using one million Ghana Cedis to purchase just one hundred dollars.
GUTA further caution of a situation where if care is not taken there could be serious panic in the system which would lead to people investing in forex to protect their hard-earned capital, aggravating the situation government is expected to handle.
He also expressed worry about the high freight charges at the ports.
According to the largest trading organisation in the country, the current happenings were unacceptable and wanted the government to take immediate action, particularly when commodities prices, among others, have gone up astronomically.
Background
The committee, named the FX Development Committee, was set up in fulfilment of the ministry’s promise in 2019 to form a bi-partisan committee to look into the depreciation and help resolve the issue.
Speaking at the inauguration, Deputy Finance Minister, Charles Adu Boahen stated the FX Development Committee is not taking over the powers of the Bank of Ghana but will complement their efforts.
“The formation of this committee is not to infringe on the independence of the Central Bank in its foreign exchange operations,” he stated.
“The committee will also review the current forex regime, identify the inherent constraints in the system and offer workable alternatives by way of policies and programmes which potentially would reduce FX risks in the economy.”
The committee was chaired by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta.
The rest were drawn from the office of the Vice President, Bank of Ghana, the Agriculture Ministry, GUTA, Association of Ghana Industries and some Universal Banks among others.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana