You’ll Soon Suffer Loss; Addison tells Speculative Dollar Purchasers

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Ernest Addison has warned economic agents who are engaged in speculative purchases and hoarding of the dollars as he forecasts losses for them.

According to him, the cedi, which has depreciated by 14.2% as of May 20, 2024, will soon stabilize against major trading currencies, rendering their purchases useless.

Meanwhile, the Bank noted that it has enough foreign exchange reserves to support the market and served its commitment to stabilize the exchange rate for the cedi.

“The Bank has enough foreign exchange reserves to support the market… Economic agents should stop engaging in speculative purchases as they will suffer economic losses when the correction occurs.”

This, he said is backed by strong liquid monetary gold levels of over 26.6 tonnes (estimated at US$2.1 billion) as a result of the domestic gold purchase programme.

Addison in his address, attributed the recent exchange rate pressures to the weakening of the current account surplus, due to higher import demand and lower export revenue, especially a sharp fall in cocoa export earnings.

“The foreign exchange market pressures also reflect robust public spending on IPP arrears payment, and capital expenditure outlays. There are also indications of increased pressures from importers diverting foreign exchange demand requirements into informal markets, increasing speculative demand for foreign exchange,” he added