President Nana Akufo-Addo has described as unacceptable the role of the black market in determining forex prices.
He has warned that government will not tolerate the unregulated activities of black market operators, which is partly responsible for the depreciation of the cedi against major trading currencies.
Opening a meeting with operators of forex bureau at the Jubilee House, President Akufo-Addo said the Bank of Ghana will continue to clamp down on such illegal activities.
“I have been informed that the activities of these black market operators largely contributed to the currency depreciation. This is unacceptable,” he said.
Stressing the need to remove activities of black market operators, President Akufo-Addo pointed out that players in that market deliberately engage in speculative activities to cause instability in the exchange rate market.
This, he said, is engineered to allow the illegal operators benefit from the fall of the cedi against major trading currencies like the dollar.
On his part, the Chairman of the Ghana Association of Forex Bureaus, K.T. Dadzie, assured that his members will work with the Bank of Ghana to help stabilise the cedi against the other trading currencies.
He stated that a recent announcement of new measures and collaboration with members of the association is already bearing fruits as the local currency show signs of stabilisation.
“Like I was telling the Governor and co yesterday, with the announcement that we were meeting yesterday, the rate started coming down. It means it’s not natural. It is done by people speculating and trying to make windfall out of the situation that we are in,” he said.
Mr Dadzie assured that members of the association will continue to obey the rules of the Bank of Ghana to help stabilise the cedi and grow the economy.
“We are a regulated body and do not have much control apart from what our regulators tell us to do. For the past three months, it has not been easy for us, our customers, and the whole nation. I am talking about foreign exchange business,” he said.
“We have been in this business since 1988. We have had turbulences but this is a bit tough for all of us,” Mr Dazie recounted referring to recent sharp depreciation of the cedi.
“But we have gone through all that happened. Sometimes it’s a bit difficult but we tried and we survived and I know this too shall pass. I hope this meeting will help and I can tell you from what happened yesterday till today that, it’s already stabilising,” he said.