Dr Ernest Addison, the Governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG) has iterated that the apex bank is taking steps to restore order in the foreign exchange market and ensure the interbank market took full control of the forex market.
According to the Governor, the move will ensure the stability in the Cedi, which has depreciated sharply against its international peers since the beginning of the year, and bring confidence to the market.
Dr. Addison made this known in a statement issued by the BoG. He asserted that the BoG is poised to work with relevant stakeholders to stabilise the foreign exchange market and clamp down on black market operators, to help contain depreciation of the cedi, adding that BoG is working to enforce regulations on the foreign exchange market so as to streamline the supply of forex in the country.
“Available data indicate that we started the year GH¢6 to the dollar. It got to GH¢7 and we stayed at GH¢7 in June, GH¢7.6 in July, GH¢8 in August, GH¢9.6 in September and now it is GH¢12.5. But we are here again with people sending messages that the dollar-cedi rate is GH¢15 to a dollar.
“Clearly, this type of movement does not reflect changes in the fundamentals. It is clear that the market is not functioning properly. We are seeing speculations taking over under very disorderly market conditions and it appears now the black market is rather driving exchange rates. This we cannot allow to continue.”
Dr Ernest Addison
Forex Bureaus Must be Law Abiding
Dr Addison once again entreated forex bureau operators to be law abiding and desist from selling foreign currencies at exorbitant prices, to reduce speculation in the market, contributing to the rapid depreciation of the Cedi.
Dr Addison further indicated that the $750 million from the AfriExim Bank and the $790 million from the COCOBOD syndicated loan would help stabilize the market. He assured that the Central Bank has enough liquidity to keep things relatively stable till the International Monetary Fund Programme started and the financing assurances expected from other partners came in.
The Governor stressed that the BoG would continue to tighten monetary policy to stem the rising rate of inflation to prevent inflation from being entrenched.
Meanwhile, inflation has risen more than 21-year high to 37.2 per cent in September, 2022.
It can be recalled that Bank of Ghana recently met with the Managing Directors of the Universal Banks in the country, led by the President of the Ghana Association of Banks and Chief Executive Officer of the Standard Chartered Bank Plc, Ms Mansah Nettey.
In addition, he met the Association of Forex Bureau Operators led by the President of the Forex Bureau Association of Ghana, K. T. Dadzie who was also part of the meeting where they outlined visions for the currency.
The objective of the meeting was to deliberate on measures to streamline, sanitise and provide clarity on the supply of forex in the country.
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