Franklin Cudjoe, President and CEO of Imani Africa
Government committee on cedi depreciation inaugurated in 2020
Franklin Cudjoe and others appointed to the committee
Cudjoe admits the committee failed to achieve its intended outcome
Franklin Cudjoe, President of the think tank, Imani Africa, has admitted that a government committee on the depreciation of the cedis failed to achieve its objectives.
Exactly two years ago, in January 2020, the FX Development Committee was set up to look into policy interventions to prevent the depreciation of the cedi.
The membership of the committee, however, was drawn from the Office of the Vice President, Bank of Ghana, Agriculture Ministry, Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Association of Ghana Industries, some universal banks among other key stakeholders. Cudjoe was one of the members of the said committee.
The subject of the committee came up recently when some pro-opposition people on social media started circulating the link to the story and asking what had become of their work.
When ‘accosted’ on Facebook by some commenters under a post he had made regarding the dire straits the economy was in, Franklin Cudjoe offered responses to the work of the committee.
Below are two responses he gave relating to the committee:
Patrick Kofi Zonu Junior: You have swerved many comments on this but sir can you tell us what was the fx committee which you were part about and the end result of their work or finding?
Franklin Cudjoe: It was dissolved I think.
Kwame Boateng: Franklin Cudjoe but did the committee achieve it target?
Franklin Cudjoe: No.
His post on Ghana’s economic woes
We all fall on hard times and need some support from family and friends..but Government has driven the country into a debt iceberg and we are sinking with fewer life boats. And passerby ships that should care are simply smiling and waving at us.. We need to stop the debt clock by rationalising our expenditure plans and more.. Meanwhile, government should talk to the IMF to help. We shouldn’t be shy at all.
About the ‘dissolved’ FX Committee
Government through the Finance Ministry established the committee to look into policy measures and interventions to prevent the recurring depreciation of the cedi from assuming the impact of the central bank.
The move was pursuant to a promise by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta in 2019 that government would establish a bi-partisan committee to investigate the structural causes of the cedi depreciation and propose adequate measures.
The Deputy Finance Minister at the time, Charles Adu-Boahen, speaking at a press briefing in Accra to inaugurate the committee explained that the mandate of the committee was principally to review the current Forex (FX) regime.
To offer workable alternatives by way of policy interventions which potentially would reduce FX risks in the economy and also identify the inherent constraints in the system.
“The FX Development Committee which is chaired by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta is also to critically look at the role of automation and digitization as a critical enabler of FX reforms,” he said.
Adu-Boahen added that; “The formation of this committee is not to infringe on the independence of the central bank in its foreign exchange operations and if anything at all, the work of the committee is to complement the efforts of the central bank in curtailing the usual poor performance of the cedi against its foreign counterparts.”