Avoid trading in dollars to protect the cedi – Economist

We need to protect the cedi against the dollar, Tsonam Akpeloo

Currently, the dollar is trading at GH¢8

We cannot grow with everything being dollarized, Tsonam Akpeloo cautions

The Chairman of the Greater Accra Regional branch of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Tsonam Akpeloo, has said trading in dollars affects the cedi and weakens it.

According to him, managers of the economy need to come out with measures to protect the cedi against the dollar and other major trading currencies.

Speaking at the 3 Business Colloquium organised by Media General, he said the economy cannot grow with everything being dollarized.

“You hear around every time quoting in dollars, hotels and everything has been dollarized. How can you grow with that? Let us protect our space, let us protect our cedi."

“The only way we do that is when the president comes on TV to read the statement, he should never mention the dollar, he should quote every figure in Ghana Cedi."

"Look at our gold industry is, Ghana is touted to be one of the biggest producers of gold. So where is the gold money? It has been dollarized, people come and take the gold away, the gold rate should be made in Cedi, we should be able to buy gold in cedi and we should have only one mechanism where we channel our gold proceeds. That way we can more of the money being retained here,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Dr. John Kwakye posited that it is not the responsibility of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to control the exchange rate because the central bank does not determine exports.

“The exchange rate is not about monetary policy alone. When people blame the Bank of Ghana for not stabilizing the exchange rate, I see that they don’t understand."

"Bank of Ghana alone cannot stabilize the exchange rate, it is about how much export we are producing as a country, how much are we earning from exports, that one bank of Ghana doesn’t determine it. Of course, they can help, [but] they have to work with government to put in policies to do that. Bank of Ghana just manages the reserves that we all we receive.”

JEA/FNOQ