General News of Monday, 10 February 2014

Source: XYZ

Free fall of Cedi: Cabinet endorses BoG directives

Cabinet has endorsed measures by the Bank of Ghana to halt the free fall of the cedi.

A statement issued by Information Minister, Mahama Ayariga, said cabinet has endorsed the actions to end the dollarization of the Ghanaian economy and ultimately restore the stability of the cedi.

Below is the full statement

Cabinet has concluded an interaction with the Governor of the Bank of Ghana aimed at clarifying a number of concerns arising from the Bank’s recent announcement of measures to address the depreciation of the cedi.

Cabinet endorsed the actions to end the dollarization of the Ghanaian economy and ultimately restore the stability of the cedi.

The meeting took note of recent developments in the global economy, especially exchange rate adjustments in emerging and frontier economies.

It was observed that some emerging economies had fared far worse than Ghana.

Cabinet however was concerned about the lack of clarity in some of them directives announced by the Bank of Ghana especially those aspects that affect the operations of foreign currency accounts and their impact on the operations of exporters and businesses in general.

In that regard the Bank of Ghana has agreed to address any ambiguities in the measures announced and provide more clarity.

Cabinet agreed on the need to support the Bank of Ghana in the implementation of the measures.

It directed State agencies to fully support these efforts.

Cabinet remains committed to the implementation of a number of policies that would reduce import dependency, promote consumption of local produce thereby addressing the current account imbalance.