PPP National
Chairman, Nana Ofori Owusu, has taken a swipe at the Bank of Ghana over their
response on the state of the Ghana's currency against foreign currencies.
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has urged the public to remain calm
stating it is on track to strengthening the cedi's value against the major
foreign currencies.
A Graphic Online publication dated Friday, August 12
indicated that the increased supply of forex was necessitated by growing demand
for hard currencies by non-resident investors leaving the jurisdiction.
The Central Bank also adds that the high crude oil price has
increased the country’s oil import bill astronomically, forcing the bank to
provide more hard currencies to meet demand.
The BoG therefore assures the public that it is implementing
measures to increase foreign currency (FX) supplies to banks in the short
term to meet growing FX demands for external payments, according to a
publication on the businessghana.com.
"Bank of Ghana is entering into a cooperation agreement
with the mining companies to ?provide BOG with the opportunity to buy gold as
when it becomes available. The Bank of Ghana is supporting the banking sector
with foreign currency liquidity to help meet demand for external payments. The
recently approved USD750,000,000 Afriexim loan facility by Parliament, once
disbursed, will boost the foreign exchange position of the country and help
restore confidence.
"The Cocoa Loan is expected in the last quarter of the
year. This facility will also help provide more foreign currency to help
address the cedi depreciation. In the short term, we expect that when the
IMF programme is finalized, it will also go a long way to help restore
confidence in the economy and drive portfolio flows. These measures will go a
long way to increase the foreign exchange reserve position of the Central
Bank", the Bank of Ghana outlined measures to curb
the cedi depreciation.
This follows public outcry over the steep fall in the
value of the cedi recently.
In reply during Peace FM's "kokrokoo" programme, Nana Ofori Owusu has
sought to find out when the Central Bank realized it has a way to remedy
the cedi situation.
"When did you learn that you have the ability to solve
this?", he asked.
He slammed the BoG for sitting on the fence till the cedi
sharply falls and the situation worsening before trying to offer solutions.
"We should stop making statements that embarrass
us," he retorted.