BoG committed to stabilising the cedi – Dr Asiamah

Dr Johnson Asiamah, Assistant Director at the Governors Department, Bank of Ghana, (BoG) on Wednesday said the Central Bank was committed to stabilizing the cedi against other major foreign currencies.

The Assistant Director said this at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) round table discussion in Accra, on the theme: “Effect of the exchange rate on prices and inflation in Ghana,” to discuss the effects of the exchange rate on prices and inflation in Ghana.

He said the Central Bank would continue to limit the volatility of the foreign exchange market, as a way of stabilizing the local currency.

The discussion forum was organized by the IEA, and it attracted people in the banking sector, business persons, and as well as researchers in the area.

He explained that the recent announcement by the BoG to pump 20 million dollars into the foreign exchange market did not mean it was being done daily, as being reported in the media, but a commitment to support the market.

“Pumping 20 million dollars into the market does not mean every day we go into the market holding such amount.

“It is a sense of the broad commitment we have to limit the volatility and one cannot therefore just look at it arithmetically and add up the amount to be pumped at the end of every month,” he said.

Professor Edward Ghartey, IEA Visiting Senior Research Fellow, urged government to revise the situation where it pumped foreign loans into the market with the intention of stabilizing the local currency.

He said the appreciation of the local currency always affected exporters, and it was important that government looked at certain fundamentals in the foreign exchange market, like increase in demand before attempting to pump any money.