The Minister for Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has appealed to the business community to stop rushing to buy dollars and other foreign currencies. According to him, his plea is rooted in the fact that the mad rush to buy the dollar is causing the local currency, the Cedi, to lose grounds.
According to him, the government was doing everything possible to bring in $2.32 billion from multiple sources before the year ends.
He mentioned these sources as disbursements from the IMF and World Bank, the Gold-for-Oil Programme, the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) Gold for Reserves programme and proceeds from the Cocoa Syndicated Funds.
Addressing a news conference in Accra over the weekend, Minister Amin Adam blamed the current exchange rate pressures to the strengthening of the US Dollar against major trading currencies, seasonal forex demand and other temporary factors affirming that the government was implementing robust measures to ensure continued stability.
Whilst admitting the current challenges, he was hopeful about medium-term stability of the Cedi with a cumulative depreciation of 14.2% as of 20th May, 2024 compared to 20.7% recorded in the same period in 2023.
Dr Amin Adam told the journalists and other stakeholders that the Cedi would largely be stable and improve into the medium-term, as government completes its debt restructuring, make more progress on fiscal consolidation and improve the country’s reserves over the same period.
The Minister also detailed the progress made under the IMF-Supported Post Covid-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG).
Following a successful 2nd Review Mission by the IMF in April 2024, Ghana secured a Staff Level Agreement (SLA), paving the way for the IMF Executive Board to consider and approve the disbursement of a third tranche of $360 million in June, bringing total disbursements to $1.56 billion.
“The positive results of the first and second reviews of the implementation of the IMF-supported Programme testify that we are achieving the Programme’s objective of restoring macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability,” he said.
He noted the resilience of the economy, citing a 2.9% GDP growth in 2023, surpassing both the original projection of 1.5% and the revised projection of 2.3%.
The Minister assured the nation that his outfit was working closely with the BoG to implement measures to address the perennial depreciation of the Cedi, including fast-tracking fiscal consolidation, intensifying the Gold-for-Oil and Gold for Reserves programmes, and strategic FX interventions by the BoG.
