Finance minister Ken Ofori Atta has said he is confident that the local currency, cedi will remain stable in the second half of the year based on the Bank of Ghana appropriate intervention made in respect of the cedi depreciation.
“The Ghana cedi remained relatively stable both on the interbank and the forex bureau market largely due to improved macro-economic conditions. Mr. Speaker, the interbank market, cumulatively the cedi has appreciated by 0.2% against the US dollar during the first five months. Mr Speaker as we mentioned there has been volatilities in the past 6 weeks and as we mentioned this was mostly due to external circumstances and also through speculation when the MTN IPO was initiated.” Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta said in his mid-year budget review presented to parliament Thursday, July 19, 2018.
The position of the Finance Minister is in contrast with that of the Deputy Minority Leader, James Avedzi, who in the past weeks predicted a further decline in the value of the Ghana cedi, following its recent free fall against the dollar.
According to him, the value of Ghana’s currency may stand at 5 cedis 20 pesewas to the dollar by December this year.
He attributed this to what he calls the poor management of the economy by the Akufo-Addo administration.
The free fall of the cedi has become a nightmare to businesses as it has hit a record low so far for this year reaching a rate of ¢4.85 to one United States dollar.
The drop is affecting importers who have to issue more cedis for the dollar and other major trading currencies.
