Cedi depreciation: We need to stop import of all agricultural products – Deputy Finance Minister

Deputy Finance Minister, Dr. Stephen Amoah has called for a collective effort to address the continuous depreciation of the Ghanaian cedi.

According to him, Ghana needs to make a bold decision to stop the import of several items, particularly agricultural products.

“I suggest the country as a whole must sit, reflect, and strategize to ensure its effects become long-term. We need to reduce the number of goods we import into this country. Obviously, import of all agricultural products needs to stop,” Dr. Stephen Amoah said in an interview with Onua FM.

The Minister added, “As a country, we face the problem of preference for goods of the same liquidity and risk factors. Everything we need and use, we import, so the demand and supply of this is weakening the cedi. This is a problem because that means we will demand more of the dollar.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Stephen Amoah has indicated that the Ministry of Finance is set to implement plans to stabilise the cedi in the short term.

“Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam and the finance team have made plans and arrangements to allocate sufficient sums of money coming into the country to ensure the dollar against the cedi is more stable,” Dr. Stephen Amoah noted.

Despite the alarming rate of depreciation in the last few weeks, the Finance Ministry holds the view that the Cedi has performed better than it did last year.