The Vice President’s economic advisor says churches in Ghana are contributing to the fall of the cedi

According to him, the fall of the cedi can be partly blamed on churches operating in Ghana with headquarters based outside the country.

Most of these foreign churches convert their offerings and tithes into dollars before transferring them into forex accounts.

Mr Frimpong said a careful analysis of the cedi indicates that between Monday and Tuesday the currency depreciates marginally linking it to churches changing the local currency to dollars.

“Many churches in Ghana do not have their head offices here. So their collections, offerings and tithes are changed into dollars and transferred into forex accounts.

He added that “Recently, we have studied and noticed that on Mondays and Tuesdays the rate at which the cedi is changed into dollars rises,” indicating that “As a Christian and an economist I think it is also a contributory factor.”

Mr Frimpong is however optimistic that the measures rolled out by the finance ministry to strengthen the cedi against the dollar will yield positive results.

The Ghanaian cedi recently experienced constant depreciation against other foreign currencies. It was trading around 5.80 cedis to one dollar. It has, however, began to appreciate since last week, it is selling from between 5.50 cedis to ¢5.20 cedis to one dollar.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta also revealed on Thursday to Parliament that the government will set up a bi-partisan committee to carry out an investigation into the constant depreciation of the local currency and further find a long-lasting solution to help stabilise it.