Abolishing Forex Accounts Can�t Solve The Cedi Depreciation - Bawumia

Vice-Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr. Bawumia says the answer to the increasing dollarization of the economy is not for government to �ban� the creation of forex accounts or discourage people from operating foreign accounts but government must take bold steps to solve the underlying fundamentals that causes macro-economic instability and weaken trust in the cedi. Dr. Bawumia was speaking as Guest Speaker at the 48th Annual Delegates Congress of the Northern Students Union held at the Bolgatanga Technical Institute on Saturday in Bolgatanga. Touching on the micro-economic situation at play today and its impact on Job Creation, Dr. Bawumia indicated that for jobs to be created, the Private Sector needs to be allowed to grow in a stable and growth fostering environment. �Job creation would ultimately be driven by the private sector. if the private sector grows, the ultimately job opportunities would grow, its as simple as that. The private sector and its ability to create jobs is very critical; so the environment that would be there for the private sector to create jobs is also very critical. The business environment has to be certain, the legal and regulatory environment has to be certain. � he said. He stated that one of the key issues that the Private sector looks at and which inhibits private sector growth is macro-economic stability. He indicated that as a country, there was the need to place premium on macro-economic stability. He cited the examples of various countries which had for centuries placed high premium on macro-economic stability. The former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana stated that unfortunately, Ghanaian economic history had been plagued by long periods of macro-economic instability and this had weakened trust in the economy and specifically the cedi. He said that the increasing dollarization of the economy was thus a response to the low level of trust in the Ghanaian cedi as a result of the spells of instability we had experienced. �The answer to dollarization is not to have ideas about abolishing dollar accounts in the country; the answer is tackling the fundamental causes of macro-economic instability�. He added. He stated that to influence appropriate expectations formation, it is important that macroeconomic stability be attained over a long period of time for people to almost take it for granted and indicated that that is what is required for people to have trust and confidence in the economy as well as the currency. He noted that one could not legislate confidence in an economy; confidence in the economy according to the NPP Running Mate has to be earned through prudent and sound economic management. He said that he found it very unfortunate when he heard that government was tinkering with the idea of abolishing foreign exchange accounts or making it expensive to create foreign exchange accounts. He said that any such moves would discourage people from accessing banking services altogether and this was a reversal of deliberate policies instituted by various governments to encourage banking and bring people into the banking system which would in turn lead to an availability and access to credit for business. Dr. Bawumia suggested that for example, there was the need for a Fiscal Responsibility Act to be enacted to check the management of our resources and the economy by governments and ensure that governments do not engage in moves that would ultimately destabilize the economy or waste our resources. The programme saw the attendance of hundreds of students from the North pursuing their education in various institutions across the country. Other personalities who spoke to the Union included Osman Ayariga, National Union of Ghana Students� (NUGS) President, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) Regional Director, Mr. Aban Cletus, National Youth Organizer of the NPP, Anthony Karbo and Mr. Robert Agyene, a retired educationist and elder in the Upper East Region.