Seth Adjei Baah addressing the CEOs
Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) from various private firms across the country on Wednesday converged on the Alisa Hotel in Accra to deliberate on how to address the depreciation of the nation’s currency against major foreign currencies.
The Managing Director (MD) of Gihoc Distillery, Kay Kwao Simmonds and the MD of Cal Bank, Frank Adu, among others, attended the meeting, which was the 2 nd edition of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) Breakfast Meeting under the theme: ‘Finding lasting solution to the perennial depreciation of the cedi- the role of the private sector.’
They noted that there was the need to channel more resources into the nation’s manufacturing and agricultural sectors in order to increase local production.
According to them, the continuous dollarization of the country’s economy was as a result of government’s inability to balance the nation’s importation and exportation.
They noted that whilst the import of goods of all kinds into the country was skyrocketing, the country’s export capacity continues to decline unimaginably.
If the trend persists, bringing an end to the dollarization of the Ghanaian economy would be difficult to achieve, if not impossible.
Ms. Kwao Simmonds, in a remark observed that ‘we need to manufacture, we need to patronize our own products. If not that then we need to forget about tackling dollarization of the economy.’
Several meetings and conferences have been held to address the rapid depreciation of the cedi against major foreign currencies.
The Managing Director of Starwin Products Limited, Kwasi Yirenkyi said, ‘There is a lack of supervision and implementation of policies that will reverse the state of the economy. Laws are already in place but the government does not have the will power to implement them.
Meanwhile, President of GCCI, Seth Adjei Baah, in his welcome address, reiterated that businesses across the country were worried about the rapid depreciation of the cedi against major foreign currencies.
‘The incessant depreciation of the cedi which has reached the 30 percent mark is very worrying for businesses. The depreciation has affected the cost of living of many Ghanaians,’ he said.
According to him, many companies have collapsed as a result of the development.
He stressed the need to urgently address the situation to ensure the growth of the country’s economy.
BY Melvin Tarlue
(Email: [email protected] )
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