Cedi selling at GH¢8.12
Ghana uses a floating currency, Otuo Acheampong
Banking Consultant, Nana Otuo Acheampong, has stated that it is not possible for Ghana to peg the cedi at a fixed rate against the dollar.
This comes after the General Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Samson Asaki Awingobit, asked the government to as a matter of urgency address the depreciation of the Ghana cedi against the dollar.
The Ghana cedi since the beginning of the year has been depreciating rapidly against major trading currencies, especially the dollar.
The cedi is currently selling at GH¢8.12.
This has been attributed to upside risks to the economy including high debt and interest payments, inadequate revenue, and rising expenditure.
This, the business community in Ghana has said is affecting the prices of commodities.
But in an interview with Citi Business News, Nana Otuo Acheampong stated that Ghana cannot fix a stable rate since the country operates a floating currency system.
“We can’t do that, when we came out of the International Financial System, the exchange rate had two options, either you fix or you float and then there’s a hybrid form which is partly fixed and partly floating and Ghana is on the floating, we don’t have a fixed one. In the current dispensation, there is hardly any economy in the world with a fixed currency either to the dollar or the pound, no, everybody is floating now."
He added,"So, then you manage your floating and that’s what the Bank of Ghana has been doing, they have been managing the floating and this happened after the second world war when economies were faced with choosing either floating or fixed exchange rate”.
Banking consultant, Nana Otuo Acheampong