The Bank of Ghana has assured the public the fundamentals of the economy are sound and strong, despite recent depreciation of the Cedi.

Speaking at “The Cedi Forum” to discuss the depreciation of the local currency, the head of Financial Markets and Treasury Dr Stephen Opata pointed out that the Central Bank has firm grips over the issues.

He said the depreciation of the Cedi is temporary, promising that measures such as “adequate reserves” have been put in place to address the shocks. “We’re providing liquidity to the banking systems to meet the shocks,” Opata stated on Thursday, 13 September 2018.

He added: “We’re trying to ensure that there is a lot of liquidity in the banking system. The shocks will come, but the BoG will always be there to manage it. The important thing is to make the economy attractive.”

“According to our analysis this currency is well aligned. We’re not too strong and not too weak. We’ve had a good year and based on the fundamentals, we were expecting to have a better year until recently,” Opata asserted.

Mr. Opata, who is also in charge of Treasury at the Central Bank, observed that “there has been significant turnaround in the fundamentals of the Cedi starting from 2017 to 2018.”

Admitting that “there has been some depreciation” in the last couple of weeks, Mr. Opata argued “it is not the worst we’ve seen.”

“The BoG is trying to live to expectation of Ghanaians in terms of achieving stability. We should not worry. We’re on the right track,” Mr. Opata assured.

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com 

A Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), Dr Said Boakye, has expressed confidence in the managers of the economy, allaying fears the recent depreciation of the local currency will lead to economic meltdown.

The Ghana cedi in recent times has depreciated marginally against major international currencies, especially the US dollar causing fears within the business community.

However, Dr Boakye submitted the shocks are normal, urging the general public to have confidence in the Central Bank to manage the situation in no time.

“There is no cause for alarm,” the IFS fellow assured at a public dialogue on the local currency dubbed: “The Cedi Forum” on Thursday, September 13, 2018.

He added: “We can’t talk about a problem without talking about the integrity of it. From the beginning of the year, the cedi has depreciated by just about 6.5%.” 

In his view, this is far below the average depreciation of the cedi which stands at 11% for the periods spanning 1993 to date.

According to Dr Boakye, the local currency is doing far better than critics of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government are portraying, describing assertions on the depreciation as “noise.”

“The Cedi is not as weak as we think, so I don’t think that all the hullabaloo is necessary. I don’t think all the noise is necessary,” Dr Boakye stressed.

“The current discussion on Cedi depreciation is premature. The Cedi is performing averagely well,” the economist, who has been an ardent critic of the Akufo-Addo government stated.

Dr Boakye was of the view that the Cedi depreciation is deliberate on the part of the Bank of Ghana to fall “in line with the IMF [International Monetary Fund) programme.” This opinion was however challenged by Mr Stephen Opata from the bank of Ghana.

“In the short term, the cedi depreciation is a deliberate policy from the Bank of Ghana… The solution is clear, but it won't be simple,” the IFS Senior Research Fellow emphasised.

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com 

Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry and MP for Tema West, Carlos Ahenkorah has commended B5Plus Steel Company for embracing the One District One Factory by commencing a steel company that promises to be the biggest steel manufacturing company in Africa.

He noted that the initiative is inspiring particularly as it frees government off the load to splash millions of dollars on the importation of steel. And that it will also help reduce import activities of investors within the steel industry.

Delivery the keynote address during the sod-cutting ceremony of the new steel factory at Lorpleku Village, at Dawhenya, Mr. Ahenkorah stated that every year, as a country we import between 200, 000 and 300, 000 metric tons of steel into the country.

Therefore, if the new company is able to produce even about 50, 000 metric tons, it will not only create jobs to the teeming youth around and beyond but also create a great source of import substitution.
 
B5Plus is a steel company that has its headquarters in Ghana and a conglomerate of business operations renders services such as manufacturing, fabrication, and delivery of iron and steel within the West Africa Sub-Region.

The Minister currently is in talks with the Energy Ministry, CEO of B5Plus, Mukesh Thakwani and the Electricity Company of Ghana to supply a 100 megawatt of power to the factory. In seeing through the One District One Factory nationwide, Government has committed GHC 2.5 billion to it.

He openly doubted their ability to carry out the initiative across the 254 districts by the end of their 4year tenure but maintained that they would build factories in the majority of the districts.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of B5Plus, Mr. Mukesh Thakwani, submitted that per the establishment of the new steel company that covers an arable land of 100 acres, they stand to become the net exporter of steel.

He also bemoaned the protracted land litigations that have bedeviled the Ghanaian land system and in the long run causing investors to develop apathy and finally discontinue whatever investment they are embarking on. Thus, he called on the government to critically address the issue.

And in response, Mr. Ahenkorah mentioned that Government is rolling out the land registration system that is purely digitized to correct the challenge.

He, however, called on the district assemblies and traditional authorities to resolve the land issues and as well release lands to investors for any other developmental projects.

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Patrick Ofoe Nudzi