In an effort to halt speculation and stabilise the foreign exchange market, the Bank of Ghana will hold a series of discussions with the leadership of universal banks and forex bureau operators, starting today.
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who made this known at a press briefing in Accra yesterday, said it was envisaged that the crucial meeting would ultimately ensure that measures were put in place to streamline, sanitise and provide clarity on the supply chain of the foreign exchange market.
That, he noted, would ensure that traders who needed foreign currencies for legitimate transactions would have access to them at official rates.
The Information Minister said the engagements would also help provide knowledge to traders and other entities as to where to look for foreign exchange in order to prevent them from dealing with black marketers who bought the currencies, hoarded them and sold them above the prevailing rates.
The briefing was to update the media on the steps the government was taking to address the economic challenges, key among them being how to stabilise prices in the foreign exchange market.
This is the latest briefing Mr Nkrumah is providing on the economy since January.
“We will also be looking at some of the longer lasting measures to ensure that the forex trade is stabilised in this country even as we expect a lot more of forex inflow following the completion of the syndication of the Ghana Cocoa Board transaction,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah noted.
He further explained that the discussions would help outline “the flows and the rates at which those flows are available and to give them the necessary space within which those who legitimately need them can access them”.
The Information Minister indicated that: “I am not privy to any extraordinary measures, but by the time they are done with their meeting, we will all get details of it”.