The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Henry Kofi Wampah has rejected calls for the cedi to be devalued ahead of the establishment of a common monetary zone by West African countries.
According to him, the cedi’s rate has always responded to market conditions which makes it unnecessary for it to be devalued.
[contextly_sidebar id=”sTfHrvfzzVTLHZwmIDQNXBuuSt67uj4o”]There has been heightened debate over whether or not the cedi and other currencies of sub Saharan countries should be devalued.
Vice President, Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur two weeks ago, had supported the move for the devaluation of currencies.
CEO of Dalex, Ken Thompson who has been pushing for the move for some time now insists the devaluation will help the country allocate its resources appropriately.
But the Governor of the Bank of Ghana Dr. Henry Kofi Wampah says the cedi has not gotten to the point where it should be devalued.
“I think it was a general comment some people felt he was referring directly to the Ghanaian economy, some of the currencies are fixed- like the CFA Franc, it is fixed to the Euro so they have no control. The Nigerian Naira has also been fixed for a while so there is a big gap between the central bank’s rate and that of the market of the Forex bureau market,” the Governor said.
“Our rates generally have been floating because the rates changes according to the market condition even be it speculative or not, the rate continues to change so for us there is no need to take a discretionary action on devaluation because the currency adjusts as and when the conditions change. In our situation, the movement is done according to market conditions which include cedi liquidity, fiscal and monetary policies,” Dr. Wampah added.
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By: Norvan Acquah-Hayford/citifmonline.com/Ghana
