<<Print>>

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.