Cedi depreciation largely caused by speculation – Finance Minister insists
The Minister for Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has reiterated that the cedi’s fall to major trading currencies is largely caused by speculation.
The minister has lashed out at people stoking the fire to deepen the battered currency’s woes further.
He criticized Bolgatanga Central Member of Parliament Isaac Adongo for allegedly encouraging people to purchase dollars for their business operations.
Dr Amin Adam accused Mr Adongo of attempting to undermine the Ghanaian Cedi and cause further depreciation.
At a press conference on Monday, July 1, Dr Amin Adam, who also serves as the Karaga Member of Parliament, described his colleague and friend’s actions as inappropriate.
He claimed that Mr Adongo’s comments were intentionally made to incite negative sentiments against the recent appreciation of the local currency.
“We have said over and over that the problem with the cedi can also be largely attributed to speculation, and therefore, while we’ve been making efforts to influence market sentiments positively, we also know that some other people are inciting speculation. We have had intelligence that people have been deliberately inciting speculation, but we never got it too real as we saw only two or three days ago.”
“My good friend and brother Isaac Adongo went out there urging people to buy dollars to do their business, and this was after I indicated at a town hall meeting in the UK that with all the policies we are implementing and with the flows that we are expecting from external sources and with the completion of the debt restructuring with our bilateral official creditors and Eurobond holders, we saw the cedi becoming stronger and stronger. My brother went out there to say people should ignore Amin Adam and go out there and buy dollars,” he said.
Despite these remarks, Dr Amin Adam reassured the public and the business community that the cedi has shown gradual improvement compared to the same period last year.
He is confident that the cedi is poised for significant growth with the forthcoming receipt of the fourth tranche of the IMF loan and the completion of the debt restructuring programme.
Dr Amin Adam attributed the positive performance of the cedi to the exemplary leadership of President Akufo-Addo and the support of the Ghanaian people for government initiatives.
He urged citizens to remain confident in the measures being taken to stabilise and strengthen the national currency.
As of the close of business on June 28, the cedi was trading at GH₵15.35 to a dollar at the forex market.