Government takes steps to remedy "free fall" of cedi – Akufo-Addo

General News of Friday, March 22, 2019

Source: ghanaiantimes.com.gh

2019-03-22

The president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, said the government was putting in place measures to tackle the structural causes of the fragile currency.

According to him, the "free fall" of the currency was due to the strong demand for foreign currency and goods produced outside the country.

He added that his administration was focusing on measures to increase the local production of some goods imported into the country as part of the long-term solution to the weakness of the currency.

"We live in a country where we depend too much on importing things for our daily subsistence. The things we can produce, we continue to export. "

"And at the same time, we are not generating enough exports," he said, stressing the need for a public discourse focused on how the country could reduce imports.

In a conversation with members of the Ghana Bar Association at Jubilee House in Accra, President Akufo-Addo said that the cedi was beginning to show signs of recovery.

He hoped that the trend would continue and expressed the Government's commitment to work to further stabilize the currency.

President Akufo-Addo said that the Ministry of Commerce will soon publish a list of the country's import profile so that the public knows the imported products that can be produced locally.

He said the District 1 policy, factories, was not just a political gimmick, but an attempt to solve the problem of self-sufficiency.

"This whole Ghanaian motto, beyond help, is to take care of yourself, to do things for which we continue to depend on other people."

"If you buy things abroad, you create jobs outside of Ghana that you can create in this country while being much more competitive in the things we produce," he said. he declares.

He said the country did not have enough dollars but people were still looking for dollars and added that such situations made the currency weak.

President Akufo-Addo also spoke of recent power issues and said that the worst power problems were behind us.

He noted that his administration had inherited a $ 5 billion US debt from the previous administration and added that the arrangements made to repay the debt weighed heavily on the Treasury.

The president said efforts were being made to address the challenges of the energy sector permanently.

Anthony Forson, president of the Ghana Bar Association, discussed the issues of weak money and energy crises in his dealings with the president.

He also discussed the degree of lawlessness and impunity in the country, including the issue of vigilance, and urged the government to tackle these issues.