The Publisher of the Daily Statesman, Gabby Otchere Darko, has revealed that $790 million is expected to hit the Bank of Ghana account and that should help improve the current turmoil in the forex market.
In a tweet he made last week Friday, Gabby, as he is popularly known, did not state where the money was coming from, but admitted that the Cedi, which had dropped by some 60% to the dollar, came under severe pressure last week.
He was, however, hopeful that the incoming United States of America (USA) bucks will help stabilize the situation.
Ghana is currently negotiating with the International Monetary (IMF) in Washington DC, USA, for a possible $3 billion extended credit facility to stabilize the economy and bring it back to the path of growth.
The negotiation, when successful,will also help the country to access funds from the international capital markets in the long run.
The $750 million African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) Loan approved by Parliament earlier in the year hit the BoG account in August. It was followed by a cocoa syndicated loan of $1.3billion.But despite these huge injections of the US dollars, the local currency, the Cedi, is still struggling to stand on its feet.
Experts are attributing the development to the investments in the dollar by business people.
Meanwhile, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has called on Ghanaians not to panic and that the situation will be brought under control.
“It is quite perplexing to see where it’s going, of course, typically in October, people are importing for Christmas and maybe there is a rush for that (the dollar), but my expectation is that once we also conclude with the Fund (IMF), that will lead to the fund’s disbursement early next year to do that,” Mr Ofori-Atta reportedly told Asaase Radio
“The support we are getting from countries like Germany and France, we are confident that we will get the resources needed, so we really would want people not to panic or be rushing in order to put pressure on the currency, I think it’s unnecessary and we are in good shape,” he assured.
