The President of the Republic, Nana Akufo-Addo, has reiterated his government’s preparedness to restore order in the forex market in Ghana.
The President in a late night address to the nation which was monitored by Wontumionline.com, admonished rumormongers to stop talking down the Ghana cedi; a situation he said doesn’t build confidence in the economy if encouraged.
“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”, he said.
President Akufo-Addo indicated that relevant state agencies would take it upon themselves to act against persons behind the publication of false news and creating panic about the economy.
He listed steps taken by his government to restore order in the forex market noting that the move has brought some form of calmness in the market.
The steps according to the President, includes:
- enhanced supervisory action by the Bank of Ghana in the forex bureau markets and the black market to flush out illegal operators, as well as ensuring that those permitted to operate legally abide by the market rules. Already some forex bureaus have had their licenses revoked, and this exercise will continue until complete order is restored in the sector;
- Fresh inflows of dollars are providing liquidity to the foreign exchange market, and addressing the pipeline demand;
- the Bank of Ghana has given its full commitment to the commercial banks to provide liquidity to ensure the wheels of the economy continue to run in a stabilized manner, till the IMF Programme kicks in and the financing assurances expected from other partners also come in;
- Government is working with the Bank of Ghana and the oil producing and mining companies to introduce a new legal and regulatory framework to ensure that all foreign exchange earned from operations in Ghana are, initially, paid to banks domiciled in Ghana to help boost the domestic foreign exchange market; and
- the Bank of Ghana will enhance its gold purchase programme.
“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 confidently said.
