Ghana cedi stable within the past three years – Finance Ministry

Over the period, the performance of the Ghana cedi against the US dollar has been topical amongst economist as well as political actors.

He touted the effort of the government in fighting depreciation of the cedi citing the year 2017, 2018, and 2019 as a case study.

On the FX Development Committee which has been set up by government to recommend cedi stability measures, Citinewsroom reports the Finance Director said;

“And what I am saying is that if you look at 2017, you look at 2018, you look at 2019 and you take the average, in terms of comparison, this is one of the most stable periods of the currency and I am explaining to you that a lot of work has been done on day to day basis to stabilize the currency and I am trying to tell you that this committee which is the most important thing is looking into the future of the currency.

“It is not looking at the daily management of the currency because we need to make decisions that will ensure that we establish a near-equilibrium for the cedi.”

‘FX Committee not probing cedi depreciation’

Reports show that the cedi recorded more than 12.7 percent depreciation last year, the worst performance since 2015 which recorded over 14.6 percent fall against the dollar.

According to Akligoh, the recently inaugurated FX Committee is to help coordinate the various efforts by the government to stabilize the cedi.

He explains that, the government has already done a lot to stabilize the cedi and the committee is only to help fashion out a long-term strategy that will ensure that the currency remains stable.

“The government has already done a lot to improve the stability of the cedi. This committee is not investigating or going to stabilize, it is looking to the future. It is not about stabilizing the cedi today. This committee, which has a broader representation, is just to make sure that there is a coordination mechanism providing strategy to feed into ongoing work, and this in the long terms is going to establish the basis for the currency dynamics of the country,” he said on Citi breakfast show.

“This committee is bringing the players who are the cause of this seasonality so that we can fashion a strategy to inform the work of the EPC so that all the good work is being done can be properly coordinated. This would just feed into the work of the committee,” he added.