body-container-line-1

FX Committee Not Investigating Cedi Depreciation – Finance Ministry Clears Air

Business & Finance FX Committee Not Investigating Cedi Depreciation – Finance Ministry Clears Air
JAN 20, 2020 LISTEN

The Head of Financial Institutions at the Ministry of Finance, Samson Akilgu says the recently inaugurated FX Committee is to help coordinate the various efforts by the government to stabilise the cedi and not to probe the free fall of the cedi as has been reported.

According to him, the government has already done a lot to stabilize the cedi and the committee is only to help fashion out a long-term strategy that will ensure that the currency remains stable.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, Mr. Akilgu said the members of the committee were drawn from various sectors and associations who play various roles in the value movements of the currency.

“The government has already done a lot to improve the stability of the cedi. This committee is not investigating or going to stabilize, it is looking to the future. It is not about stabilizing the cedi today. This committee, which has a broader representation, is just to make sure that there is a coordination mechanism providing strategy to feed into ongoing work, and this in the long terms is going to establish the basis for the currency dynamics of the country,” he said.

He added that the committee would be working to inform the Economic Policy Coordinating Committee which is already leading efforts in ensuring a strong economy.

“This committee is bringing the players who are the cause of this seasonality so that we can fashion a strategy to inform the work of the EPC so that all the good work is being done can be properly coordinated. This would just feed into the work of the committee.”

The Finance Ministry last Friday inaugurated a committee to look into the causes of the depreciation of the cedi and propose solutions to the problem.

The establishment of the committee, named the FX Developments Committee, is a fulfillment of a promise made by the Ministry last year to constitute a bi-partisan committee to look into the problem and help address it.

He said the committee will work to complement the efforts of the Bank of Ghana in curtailing the usual poor performance of the cedi against other major foreign currencies.

“The formation of this committee is not to infringe on the independence of the central bank in its foreign exchange operations,” he said.

The formation of the committee has generated debate within the political circles as some have described it as unnecessary.

The Deputy Finance Minister, Charles Adu Boahen, at the inauguration, stated that the FX Development Committee is not usurping the powers of the Central Bank.

He said the committee will complement the efforts of the Bank of Ghana in curtailing the usual poor performance of the cedi against other major foreign currencies.

“The formation of this committee is not to infringe on the independence of the central bank in its foreign exchange operations,” he said.

---citinewsroom

body-container-line