Cedi to stabilize in two weeks – says Finance Minister



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If the strong depreciation of the cedi worries you a lot, do not worry anymore, because the Minister of Finance says the situation will stabilize in two weeks.

Ken Ofori-Atta told reporters in parliament on Wednesday that the government expects large inflows of foreign currency into the country to help reverse the value of the cedi.

The local currency is still struggling to stabilize against major international currencies such as the US dollar, ranging from 5.6 to 5.7 cents.

At the same time last year, the cedi was sold at 4.42 and 4.27 ¢ in January 2017, raising fears that the situation would worsen if long-term measures were taken. are not put in place.

Its depreciation since the beginning of the year ranks it among the least performing currencies of emerging markets.

The interbank exchange of the Bank of Ghana, dated February 1, shows that the cedi depreciated by 2.6% against the US dollar, against an appreciation of 0.1% in the same period the last year.

Last year, the cedi depreciated 8.4% against the dollar, which the Central Bank attributed to the strengthening of the US dollar against emerging market currencies and other frontier markets.

The President expressed his concern over the depreciation of the cedi but badured that every effort is made to stop the decline and bring it back to stability, in order to improve the competitiveness of Ghanaian industry.

The finance minister also said the situation will soon improve.

"We are getting about $ 300 million from COCOBOD and another $ 600 million from COCOBOD in about a month. We have officially launched our Eurobond which will rise to $ 3 billion and is expected to close by two weeks ago. "

Mr. Ofori-Atta acknowledged that the challenge for governments was how to structurally balance imports and exports.

He thinks the time has come for the country to find strategies to change its dependence on imports "otherwise we will always fight – this does not matter to the government".

Related: BoG introduces new regulations on the foreign exchange market to help stabilize cedi

He added, however, that with "the kind of capital we expect to get in the next few weeks, we are really expecting a reversal and stability."

In response to Bloomberg's description of the cedi as the cheapest currency in Africa due to the cedi's depreciation, the finance minister said the representation may not be fair.

"Inflation is a single digit, which is good, growth has been string (six percent in the third quarter of last year), our budget deficit fell sharply and we also see surpluses in our current account, "he said, noting that panic was not necessary.

"With the kind of Fund raising which I have spoken about, "he said," I think that everything will end and we will realize that it is only a jolt … and that all this should happen in the next two weeks or so.

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