Sika mpɛ dede – President Akufo-Addo on what caused the cedi depreciation
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that the recent depreciation of the Ghana cedi was caused by low inflows of foreign exchange, as well as the activities of speculators and the Black Market.
According to him, “If you allow some unidentifiable person to talk down your money, it will go down”.
He added that all Ghanaians could play a part in helping to strengthen the cedi by having confidence in the currency, avoiding speculation and keeping it as a store of value.
The President in an address on the state of the Ghanaian economy on Sunday said all Ghanaians could help to strengthen the cedi by having confidence in the currency and avoiding speculation.
“Fellow Ghanaians, as the French would say, l’argent n’aime pas le bruit, to wit, money does not like noise, sika mpɛ dede. Where there is chaos, where there is noise, where there is unrest, you will not find money. If you talk down your money, it will go down. If you allow some unidentifiable person to talk down your money, it will go down,” he said.
“The recent turbulence on the financial markets was caused by low inflows of foreign exchange, and was made worse in the last two to three weeks, in particular, by the activities of speculators and the Black Market. An anonymous two-minute audio message on a WhatsApp platform predicting a so-called haircut on Government bonds sent all of us into banks and forex bureaus to dump our cedis, and, before we knew it, the cedi had depreciated further. All of us can play a part in helping to strengthen the cedi by having confidence in the currency, and avoiding speculation. Let us keep our cedi as the good store of value it is. To those who make it a habit of publishing falsehoods, which result in panic in the system, I say to them that the relevant state agencies will act against such persons”.
Restoring order
He further disclosed that the government had already taken five steps to restore order in the forex markets.
He said the following actions have been taken thus far:
“I am confident that these immediate measures designed to change the structure of our balance of payment flows, sanitise the foreign exchange market to ensure that the banks and forex bureaus operate along international best practices, together with strengthened supervision, will go a long way to sanitize our foreign exchange market, and make it more resilient against external vulnerabilities going forward,” he said.
Source: Graphiconline.com
