Business News of Thursday, 11 April 2013
Source: Citifmonline.com
Chief Executive Officers and business owners have been urged to kick against dollarisation by trading in the Cedi alone in Ghana.
The Cedi suffered massive depreciation last year. One of the main reasons attributed to the slide has been the use of the dollar in trading instead of the Cedi. Speaking on the topic “Financing the private sector; the role of Banks” Managing Director of Stanbic Bank, Alhassan Adani said the private sector can also help sustain the value of the Cedi and move the economy of Ghana from a lower middle income to a middle income by ensuring confidence in the Cedi.
“Every country that takes their economy seriously defends their ‘blood’ which is the currency. But in Ghana everybody wants to keep a dollar; which is not your currency. How does macro-economic or monetary policy management work,” he asked. He made these comments when he addressed a gathering of CEOs during the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry breakfast meeting on Wednesday. The meeting which was under the theme: “Moving from a lower middle income to upper middle income – the role of the private sector” was to create a platform to generate business opportunities and also to meet the CEOs of companies in search of their difficulties and challenges.
The President of the Chamber, Seth Adjei Baah said government should be blamed for businesses trading in the dollar and other foreign currencies. “When we [businesses] come to the ports and we are clearing our goods everything is charged in dollars, so the government is to be blamed, government should lead for us to follow; if the government says that we are using Cedis, so be it.”
Mr. Adjei Baah said government should be able to charge in Ghana Cedis to help stabilize the economy and the currency.