BoG To Meet Banks, Forex Bureaus Over The Cedi
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) is expected to meet banks and forex bureaus in the country today, according to the Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.
The meeting with the managing Directors of banks and heads of forex bureaus Associations in the country is aimed at “ensuring that the supply of forex unto the forex market is stabilised and the over-pricing is halted and that people who need access to forex for legitimate transaction can get same without hindrance in the banking halls and the forex bureaus as against on the black market”.
As of October 24, 2022, a dollar was bought at GHC15 while it was sold at GHc16. Similarly, a Euro was bought at GHc13.50 whereas it was sold at GHc14.60.
Following Bloomberg’s report that the cedi was the worst performer against the dollars worldwide early last week, the cedi got hit by a steep depreciation from 12.65p at the beginning of the week to nearly GHc15.
Reports indicate that this is due to a shortage of the dollar on the forex market.
“Corporate institutions that undertake forex transactions are not getting dollars to buy. They claim the banks don’t have forex to execute their transfers and payments for them, so their only hope is the forex bureaus or sometimes the black market”, Joynews quotes an importer as saying.
Again, he is reported to have said “there is uncertainty and panic in the economy, so some people are looking to convert their cedis into dollars. It is not good and that has also been driving the huge demand. In fact, I have not seen this for a very long long time”.
The Minister for Finance last week called on the Ghanaian public to stay calm over the situation.
“…It’s quite perplexing to see where it’s going, of course, typically in October, people are importing for Christmas and maybe there’s a rush for that (the dollar) but my expectation is that once we also conclude with the Fund (IMF), that will lead to the fund’s disbursement early next year to do that”, he said in an interview with Asaase radio.
He added, “The support we are getting from countries like Germany and France, we are confident that we will get the resources needed, so we really would want people to know not to panic or be rushing in order to put pressure on the currency, I think it’s unnecessary and we are in good shape”.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Oppong Nkrumah said the meeting with the two stakeholders will discuss the supply of dollars onto the forex market.
“They will also be looking at the longer lasting measures to ensure that forex trade is stabilised in the country even as we expect a lot more inflow of forex following the completion of the syndicated loan of the COCOBOD transaction.”
The meeting with the banking sector comes after the Economic Management Team (EMT) met yesterday over the cedi depreciation.
According to Oppong Nkrumah, the meeting was to enable the team “apprise itself of the latest numbers as have been put together and some of the recommendations as we get into the final part of the year”.
He said the President will chair a meeting with the Cabinet on Thursday, October 27 to receive an update on the IMF negotiations and make a decision on the way forward.
The President is expected to address the country subsequently on the next steps forward, he said.
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
