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Business News of Thursday, 28 March 2019

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Blame Central Bank governor for cedi depreciation - Kwame Pianim

An internationally celebrated economist, Kwame Pianim has asked Ghanaians, especially investors to quit blaming the government for the cedi depreciation and rather seek answers from the governor of central bank.

“We should not blame the government for cedi depreciation, we should blame governor of the Central Bank because that is their job,” he said.

According to him, the purpose of the Central Bank is to oversee the stabilization of the Ghanaian currency and the economy at large and has the cause to answer questions relating the depreciation of the cedi in the country.

He further stated that Ghanaians should have the guts to approach persons responsible for the consistent decline of the cedi and allow the government do their work.

Speaking at the Economic Dialogue series held in Accra, he said “The cedi depreciation is serious and should be discussed seriously, not for political points scoring because it affects all our lives and should be done in a non-partisan way and this is why the sovereign people of Ghana in their infinite wisdom decided to set up a Central Bank and we later made it independent to be responsible for the stability of the cedi”.

Mr Pianim, noted that the cedi depreciation could be a signal to government to explore other sectors of the economy for income to strengthen the cedi than focusing on just a sector, adding, a symptom of a weak economy is as a result of a weak local currency.



“When the cedi is depreciating too fast, it is bad for business and bad for investors to look at us as a safe place for investing their money,” he added.

Former Deputy Finance Minister, Fiifi Kwetey, however, disagrees with his assertion and believes the government should be held responsible for the cedi depreciation since they love to be applauded for everything.