Work of FX Devt Committee in probing cedi depreciation will be short-term – Akligoh

The Acting Director, Financial Sector Division of the Finance Ministry says the work of the Forex (FX) Development Committee's instituted to probe the recurring depreciation of the cedi is going to be short-term and that its expected to present a report in the next three months.

According to Sampson Akligoh, the FX Development Committee is also expected to come

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“The work of the committee is going to be short-term and that its been expected to present a report in the next three months. Their work is not about investigating the depreciation of the cedi but will rather look to the future and establish a new basis for the currency going forward.”

Akligoh in an interview on Citi FM's Breakfast Show on January 20 indicated that there has been some misreporting with regards to the work of the FX Development Committee.

Government through the Finance Ministry last week established the Forex Development Committee with a mandate to look into policy measures and interventions to prevent the recurring depreciation of the cedi from assuming the impact of the central bank.

The move follows a promise made by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, last year that government would establish a bi-partisan committee to investigate the structural causes of the cedi depreciation and propose adequate measures.

The membership of the committee which is chaired by the Finance Minister is drawn from the Office of the Vice President, Bank of Ghana, Agriculture Ministry, Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Association of Ghana Industries, some universal banks among other key stakeholders.

The Deputy Finance Minister, Charles Adu-Boahen, speaking earlier at a press briefing in Accra to inaugurate the committee said; “The formation of this committee is not to infringe on the independence of the central bank in its foreign exchange operations and if anything at all, the work of the committee is to complement the efforts of the central bank in curtailing the usual poor performance of the cedi against its foreign counterparts.”

In 2019, the cedi depreciated by more than 12.7 percent, the worst performance since 2015 when the cedi depreciated by more than 14.6 percent.