The Member of Parliament (MP)for Akim Swedru in the Eastern Region, Hon Kennedy Osei Nyarko is appealing to industry stakeholders especially Bank of Ghana to put down initiatives to sanitise the Forex Bureau market.
The law maker called on Bank of Ghana to enhance its effective collaboration with the law enforcement agencies to clamp down on illegal operators.
There is the belief that actions by some operators have been contributing to speculation in the foreign exchange market, hence affecting the stability of the cedi.
“BoG should keep their eyes on cross border Forex trading because it’s contributing to the high demands for the dollar. Whilst in Nigeria today one will need equivalent of GHc18.12p (716.82 Naira) to purchase a $1.00 in Ghana the same Nigerian will just need equivalent of GHc13.00 (455 Naira). Because of this most of them are taking advantage of our relaxed system and coming in to buy the FX here putting more pressure on the little dollar reserves we have. We need to immediately deal with this issue,”Hon Kennedy Osei Nyarko wrote on his official Twitter handle.
“I strongly appeal to support Bank of Ghana’s efforts to sanitise the forex bureau sector, by strictly enforcing existing rules for the fair and transparent conduct of business by licensed forex bureaus, and by clamping down on illegal forex operations (the so-called black market).”
He called on stakeholders to enforce the laws in the forex market.
“While Bank of Ghana regulates the sector, it relies on criminal investigation and law enforcement agencies including COCLAB to help with enforcement efforts. I’m counting on cooperation especially now more than ever to help restore order and fair pricing to promote the Ghana cedi’s stability”
He urged the central Bank to investigate into various complaints received regarding some forex bureaus that are not abiding by the laws governing foreign exchange.
“The ‘black market’ has been contributing to the free fall of the local currency in recent times according to many Analyst,”he added
Hon. Kennedy Osei Nyarko believes that effective collaboration with stakeholder can help deal with the challenge.
Source: Richard Obeng Bediako
