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Cedi struggles: We need to focus on structural fundamentals – Nana Addo

The Ghana cedi is frail because the country has not paid much attention to the “structural problems” of the economy, President Nana Akufo-Addo has said.

The cedi is currently trading at GHS5.5 to a dollar.

At a meeting with the leadership of the Ghana Bar Association on Tuesday, 19 March 2019, Mr Akufo-Addo said: “Our public discourse should also begin to focus on much more of the structural problems involved in our currency… There are structural problems that we so far do not articulate loudly enough in my view.”

“We live in a country where we are overly dependent on the importation of things for our daily sustenance; things that we can produce, we continue to import them. At the same time, we don’t generate enough exports, this is the real origin of the fragility of our currency,” the president lamented.

“It is the issue on the current account, the persistent deficit in our national income statistics, on our current account, that is what gives rise to the frailty of our currency”, the president complained, adding that: “The currency is currently seeing a downward trend. I am hoping that the downward trend will continue and it will get further down so that the recent upsurge will be wiped out”.

This is the second time within three weeks that the president has spoken publicly about his frustrations with the freefall of the cedi.

Addressing a ceremony held at the Tema Heavy Industrial Area, Kpone, on February 27 to inaugurate the Fujian Sentuo Ceramic Tile Factory, President Akufo-Addo, said he was aware of the anxiety there is in business circles concerning the fall of the cedi.

“I am extremely upset and anxious about it, too, but I want to assure you that all efforts are being made to arrest the decline and restore the cedi to stability in order to improve the competitiveness of the Ghanaian industry and I think very soon you will be seeing the results of our policy,” Mr Akufo-Addo said.

Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com

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