Cedi fall has cut my imports from 15 containers to 2 – Abossey Okai boss

The co-chairman of the Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association, Mr Siaw Ampadu, has said that about seven years ago, he used to import ten or fifteen containers of car spare parts a year, but can barely afford two currently due to the depreciation of the Ghana cedi – the local currency against the dollar and other international currencies of trade.

Mr Ampadu made the comments on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Wednesday, 27 March 2019 in a discussion on the recent sharp fall in the value of the cedi and its impact on businesses including spare parts dealers.

He told show host Benjamin Akakpo that: “I don’t think how business is going on this time, you can import more than three, four containers a year. Previously I used to import – about a whole year – ten or fifteen containers, but now, [I import] one or two containers [and] I’m okay because I don’t have the capacity.

Mr Ampadu added: “No businessman would like to hear that the cedi is depreciating, all that we want to hear is that the cedi is appreciating. This time, I think we’ve seen that the cedi is getting its strength and we’re all happy about the situation now but we want the cedi to increase and do better for us”.

He has, therefore, called on the government and the central bank to put measures in place to ensure the appreciation of the cedi against major trading currencies, especially the dollar, is sustained.

“The government should put measures in place to make sure the cedi is getting its strength. All over the world, they have measures to check their currency, but here in Ghana, you cannot understand the digits. If you need the dollar unless you go to the roadside or you go to the ‘Gawugawu’ or the forex bureau before you get the dollar, while the banks are there. If you go to the bank, there’s no dollar, so, if the government wants to maintain the strength of the cedi, they should do something about this and they should put measures in place.

“The central bank is there and nothing is functioning; they’re not working. If the cedi is depreciating, all that they’ll come and tell us is that we import too much and that’s why the dollar is getting its strength and the cedi is falling”.

He also bemoaned the takeover of businesses by foreigners at the expense of Ghanaian businesspeople.

“The foreigners are importing more goods into our country and traders are crying that the foreigners are taking over our businesses, and they don’t mind it. From the foreigners’ side, the goods that they’re bringing in, I think they’re making it export to Ghana and we’re here talking, making a whole lot of noise: ‘We import too much’.

“How many times have you heard from one importer in Ghana or businessman in Ghana importing 20-footer container or 50 containers a week? But these importers, they can import more than 100 containers a week and this why our cedi is sinking every day and then because always they need the dollar badly, they want to change dollars day in and day out. We have to do something about it.

“We, the traders in Ghana, our position is that if you need the dollar, go to the bank and change it. If they can do that for us, or they have to do something about it,” he noted.