Senior Vice President of policy think tank, IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil says whoever is working on bringing the glory of the cedi back is 'not doing a good job'
“Whoever is dealing with it is not doing a good job. If you claim to be working hard at something but you are not solving the problem, you don’t know what you are doing because clearly, the problem is not being solved. We all need to find the reason why our cedi does what it does” he said during a panel discussion on Joy FM's newsfile programme, Saturday.
The cedi has depreciated by 8.5 percent since January 2019, reaching a record high of 5.60 in March. As at 15th March 2019, the cedi was behind the dollar at GHC5.62.
According to Mr. Bentil, “the cedi is like the temperature of a sick person...the temperature is a symptom; if you don't deal with the problem then the temperature can cause other problems...what the cedi rate reveals is that there is something fundamentally wrong with our economy and I don’t think we have understood it".
“We have economists in this country, department of economics, analysts, think thanks…we have people who should take this issue and analyze it. Let’s find what causes our cedi to behave this way because if we don’t cure this temperature it will start affecting our brain and start killing everything. We need to study it understand it then we can competently manage it.” he urged.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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Mr Bentil,you always display your ignorance to Ghanaian.Somebody who is the vice president of a Think Thank organisation will ask this layman's question.A JSS student even knows that 95% of a depreciation of a current is determined by the Demand and Supply forces. As member of think thank organisation you should have come out with your solution not ask this over-fed child question. Who work on the cedi?Ask your former NDC ministers,Mahama and is family to stop buying the dollar at any rate with the stolen billion of cedis and the cedi will stabilized.
The importation of goods is simple the course for the cedi troubles. Check the rate of China but the USA went into a trade war with them. I listen to you and your proposal is for Ghana to turn to the service sector, as USA did in the 1980's and now they in a trade war and the most indebted nation on earth. Which nations are we going to compete with in the service sector, and are we competitive in this sector. It was the IMANI Ghana who was against free SHS, and in the service sector you need highly educated people, and does Ghana have them. Even a Ghanaian who created Ghana post gps was criticized and still immigration at the airport does not use this service. I will say Ghana should turn to all the sectors especially agric and industries.
Another way the Government can generate dollars and stabilize the Cedi is allow and promote Ghana to be tourist hub by giving free visas to USA and European Citizens, Japan, Australia as they will bring millions of Dollars to the country.
you are a hypocrite to say that
Kofi Bentil, I listened to your theory on Newsfile but I do think that you have confused yourself in the mind. First of all, drop that post war analogy and all that. In economics, the price of anything including the exchange rate of the cedis is determined by SUPPLY and DEMAND. The rate at which the cedis exchanged for the dollar is the price for the dollar. So when the demand for the dollar at anytime is higher than the supply, that excess demand would force the price, the rate of exchange up. The reverse would happen if the supply is more than the demand. Your theory seems to be esoteric in your mind but neglected the fundamentals of the subject area. What we need to do to stabilize the cedi are both medium and long term measures. And that was what Dr Akwetey explained. We need to produce more to feed ourselves and drastically reduce dependence on imports. Imagine what would happen if we cut off the importation of the two billion rice a year that we do now. Then we need to export more to earn more dollars. That would include adding value to our exports and to do that we need to industrialize.
You are very stoupid. Who should give you solution when your dwarf president claimed he had the men. If 126 ministers wasting our scarce resources cannot solve this problem why do you expect mr bentil to do so.
Mr bentil, forget about other economists, we have barwumia who nana addo says he has all the wisdom in this world in his head, he should solve the problem. Barwumia is now computer and zongo affairs minister. Today, he doesn't talk economics all he does is ICT lectures and organizing meetings with the zongo communities while the economy is dancing atopa and azonto, then at night he goes and fks samira.
Criticism without offering any solution.This is what we do best as Ghanaians.I think those black maketeers must be stopped and make sure whoever needs dollars should go to the bank or a registered forex bureau.2, Dollars should not be used to transact any form of business in Ghana.Those who accept rent in dollars, hotels that accept only dollars and schools that are charged only dollars.Thay should ban all these