The Vice President of the Forex Bureau Association of Ghana, Dr. Alex Akpabli, has asked Ghanaians to desist from doing business with dealers in the black market. According to him, their activities have been a major contributor to the woes of the cedi. He argued that using the same strategies to solve the cedi’s problems will not produce the intended results. He said, “the challenges we are facing today can’t be solved by the same practice, there must be a paradigm shift.” Dr. Akpabli acknowledged however that the black market poses a huge challenge to the operation of forex bureaus in the country. “We have the parallel market that competes with us, the black market, that is the challenge. If you need Dollars come to us and we can help but if you choose the black market which is not safe then there is a problem,” he was quoted by 3news.com. Meanwhile, traders and importers have shared the same sentiments, while noting that the activities of the black market are derailing their working capital. Speaking to a trader, Abigail, she said: We are pleading with the government to arrest those in the black market. They are the main reason the dollar and CFA keep increasing. The dollar rates are changing too rapidly. In a day, the dollar can rise about three times within three hours." "It is unbearable," she told GhanaWeb Business. Shaima, who retails socks and other clothing items recounted that "the black-market folks have hoarded the dollars. They are the reason the rates have gone up. What we know is that exchange is done in either bureaus or the bank, but now these black-market people have taken over." SSD/FNOQ