You are here: HomeNews2019 03 28Article 733830

Business News of Thursday, 28 March 2019

Source: yen.com.gh

Bi-partisan committee to investigate cedi depreciation - Ken Ofori Atta

Ken Ofori Atta, Finance Ministerz play videoKen Ofori Atta, Finance Ministerz

Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta has disclosed that government will form a bi-partisan committee to probe the continuous depreciation of the cedi.

Addressing Parliament on Thursday, March 28, Ken Ofori Atta said after the continuous depreciation of the cedi from December last year to March this year, President Akufo-Addo has directed him to find the structural cause of the cedi depreciation.

“The president has directed that I investigate the structural causes for the depreciation of the cedi and to propose measures to address the situation, the government and I will put a bi-partisan committee together to proceed immediately.”

According to Ken Ofori Atta, the cedi’s appreciation against the U.S dollar over the past three days has been due to the successful issuance of the 3 billion Eurobond and the completion of the 7th and 8th IMF reviews which will lead to the exit of Ghana from the programme.

He added that the two events have given investors’ confidence in the Ghanaian economy.

“The cedi has made great strides of recovery on the back of a successful issue of the 3b euro-bond and the completion of the 7th and 8th IMF reviews which restored confidence in Ghanaian economy currently the cedi has witnessed substantials gains with the measures we have put in place there is an existing sound macroeconomic faundamentals we anticipate the stability of the cedi going forward, indeed the cedi as appreciated by 5.12% in March 2019 alone as against a depreciation of 2.7% same period last year.”



Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta proposes two solutions to solving the cedi depreciation, he said: “….enchane the transparency of the foreign exchange market to minimize information as semitry and panic buying of currency by businesses and by the public when there are seasonal glpses in the currency, Develop our capital market, insurance and pension industry to ensure that government domestic borrowing rely less on foreign portfolio investors.”