Ghana cedi stable within the past three years, foreign exchange committee not set to investigate its depreciation, Finance Ministry discloses

According to ministry, these three years have been the most stable periods of the currency.

The Director of Financial Sector Division at the Finance Ministry, Sampson Akligoh disclosed the information while speaking to Accra based Citi FM following the inauguration of the 40 member FX Development Committee which was set up by government recently to recommend on how to stabilize the cedi.

According to him, the government over the past three years has put in much work to ensure the stability of the local currency.

“And what I am saying is that if you look at 2017, you look at 2018, you look at 2019 and you take the average, in terms of comparison, this is one of the most stable periods of the currency, and I am explaining to you that a lot of work has been done on day-to-day basis to stabilize the currency, and I am trying to tell you that this committee which is the most important thing is looking into the future of the currency,” he said.

Adding that “It is not looking at the daily management of the currency because we need to make decisions that will ensure that we establish a near-equilibrium for the cedi.”

FX Committee not probing cedi depreciation

In 2019 the cedi depreciated by more than 12.7 percent, the worst performance since 2015 when the cedi depreciated by more than 14.6 percent.

The Director noted that the recently inaugurated FX Committee is to help coordinate the various efforts by the government to stabilise the cedi and not to probe the depreciation of the cedi as has been reported.

He added that the government has already done a lot to stabilise the cedi and the committee is only to help fashion out a long-term strategy that will ensure that the currency remains stable.

“The government has already done a lot to improve the stability of the cedi. This committee is not investigating or going to stabilize, it is looking to the future. It is not about stabilizing the cedi today. This committee, which has a broader representation, is just to make sure that there is a coordination mechanism providing strategy to feed into ongoing work, and this in the long terms is going to establish the basis for the currency dynamics of the country,” he said.

He added that the committee would be working to inform the Economic Policy Coordinating Committee which is already leading efforts in ensuring a strong economy.

“This committee is bringing the players who are the cause of this seasonality so that we can fashion a strategy to inform the work of the EPC so that all the good work is being done can be properly coordinated. This would just feed into the work of the committee.”