The Bank of Ghana is set to ease some of the foreign exchange measures introduced recently to stabilize the cedi on Friday.
Joy Business’ source says the regulator is likely to abolish some of the measures, relax some of them, and possibly introduce some new ones to help halt the cedi ‘s free fall in value.
The source adds that the aim of the review is to make it easier for people to transact business while protecting the local currency.
According to some analyst ,the local currency has depreciated by a little over 20 percent since these policies were introduced.
The measures implemented in February included an end to transfers between accounts denominated in foreign currency. Companies said this has hurt business and not supported the cedi, which has fallen 28 percent this year due to import demand and a weak fiscal environment.
“We are reviewing the measures tomorrow. The aim is to make it easier for people to transact business while still protecting our currency,” Governor of Bank of Ghana Dr. Kofi Wampah told Reuters in a phone interview.
“We have been monitoring and listening to people’s concerns. It is on account of this that we are reviewing,” Wampah said.
The International Monetary Fund said in May that the new measures would be ineffective unless Ghana resolved macro-economic imbalances including a high budget deficit and inflation.
Ghana has been struggling with budget deficits and high bond yields as well as the tumbling cedi. The fiscal problems have taken the shine off an economy feted for five years of gross domestic product growth above 8 percent on the back of its exports of gold, cocoa and oil
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