The government of Ghana says it has taken steps to halt the depreciation of the Cedi and to ensure that the currency begins to stabilise from next week.
This was disclosed by the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen, who said more hard currency will be made available to importers.
Bloomberg recently classified the cedi as the worst-performing currency across the globe after Sri Lanka’s Rupee.
This was after the exchange rates skyrocketed from $1.00 for GH¢7.43 to an average of GH¢10.5 to buy $1.00 in the space of a month.
However, Adu Boahen said the government is working on fixing the situation, having agreed with mining and gas companies to sell their forex to the Bank of Ghana to stabilise the currency.
“We want to see the stabilisation happening next week. The Afrexim facility should be here by Monday at the latest and that should begin towards the first step toward making sure that the stabilisation occurs,” the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry said, as quoted by Joy News.
“We believe that there are a lot of speculative activities that are creating some unnecessary depreciation in the currency.”
Earlier this week, the Bank of Ghana received the first tranche of a $750 million loan facility from the Afriexim Bank.
The facility is expected to finance capital and growth-related expenditures in the 2022 Budget.
It will also give a big boost to the local currency, by helping to stabilize the cedi, which has been under serious depreciation pressure this month, especially.
The proceeds from the loan would largely be used to finance projects in the roads, energy, railways, and health sectors. These projects are those outlined in the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government.
Pulse
