Arrest free fall of cedi now - GUTA to government

The Ghana Union of Traders AssociatioTA) has urged the Akufo-Addo government to stabilize the Ghana cedi against the US dollar and other major currencies of international trn (GUade.

GUTA Vice-President Clement Boateng said: “Everything that we do is benchmarked on the dollar and we think the government must do something about the situation”.

“If we talk about the telcos, the oil, and extractive sectors; at the end of the year, they are repatriating their profits back and you can see the chunk of monies they take from here, so, the government must look at its investment laws,” Mr. Boateng suggested in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM.

Between January and mid-March 2022, the cedi has lost more than 14% of its value.

A few days ago, GUTA suggested to the government to prevail on foreign companies operating in Ghana to stagger the repatriation of their profits so as to save the cedi from falling further.

According to GUTA, there is the need for the central bank to talk to transnational companies in the telecommunication and mining industries, to stagger the repatriation of their profits.

GUTA said this is important because Ghanaians have failed to own the commanding heights of the economy, as it is in the hands of foreigners.

Dr. Joseph Obeng, the President of GUTA, made this suggestion on Accra100.5 FM’s mid-day news on Tuesday, March 8, 2022.

He said this is the only way the cedi can be prevented from further nose-diving against the dollar.

“These international companies, instead of being allowed to repatriate all their profits from the country, they can be made to stagger their profits quarterly to shore up the cedi against the dollar,” he proposed.

He was of the view that once these companies are left to have a field day, the cedi will continue to suffer.

He bemoaned that “as a country, we have failed to own the commanding heights of the economy”, adding, “These foreign companies are making millions and repatriating in dollars every year.”