An Economist, Prof. John Gatsi says there is no doubt that the Ghanaian economy is facing some turbulence, vis a vis the initiative by government putting together a Foreign Exchange (FX) Development Committee to deal with the depreciation of the cedi.
Government has formed a Foreign Exchange (FX) Development Committee as part of efforts to regulate the supply and demand of forex in the country.
This follows an order from the president to the Finance Minister to investigate the structural causes for the depreciation of the cedi and to propose measures to address the situation.
The committee comprises a representative each from the Finance Ministry, Agric Ministry, Bank of Ghana, Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), IMANI Africa among others.
Speaking on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.5 FM following the development, Prof Gatsi intimated that the action portends that the economy is on a time bomb, and that there is some problematic situation which will eventually become dangerous if not addressed.
“You know that in the past three years it’s difficult to hear from government and government spokespersons that there is something wrong in their management of the currency. Infact they insist that they’re the best managers of the currency.
“Within 100 days in office, we all know what the Vice President said concerning the management of the currency. Thereafter we keep on hearing some comparisons to the effect that this is the best we’ve had in our recent history. So except that recent report by the IMF indicating that, this is the worst performance of the cedi in the past three years. Apart from that there is no indication from government about weak performance of the currency or having problems with currency management.
“So if all of a sudden there comes a currency management committee, that sends a negative signal about what is actually going on that the economy may be exposing, that we’ll want to deal with quickly.”
