Opinions of Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Columnist: Abdul Rahman Odoi
2022-08-23Maintaining the value of your cedis
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It doesn’t require any background in economics to ascertain that the dollar has successfully crippled the cedi.
When one dollar stands, ten cedis would have to take a sleep. That’s why if there’s anything to be declared a pandemic after coronavirus then it’s Ghana’s cedi. It’s a pandemic of all pandemonium and a fall of all failures.
Politicians have now learned
Read full article.to cede from politicizing the devaluation of the cedi. However, they don’t feel the bad economies due to owning dollar accounts and trading in dollars. But they’d take a u-turn and propose a toast with the citizenry to hold the cedi in high esteem.
For a fact, the cedi won’t be matching the dollar anytime soon. Thus, average men who still have some cedis locked up in their savings account would need to be canny this time, lest their monies would keep counting to zero with time. Those in charge have failed us, therefore citizens would need to grow the cedi their own way.
Personal Forex Arbitrage: In these trying times don’t save all your cedis with the commercial banks in their savings account. They make more money on it than you. The central bank has banned the opening of new dollar accounts, so get a safe box. With it, you could start with your own savings at home.
Change some of your cedis into either pounds, euros, or dollars depending on which of them would give you higher returns, and keep them in your safe at home. This is the best investment lately. Because if you leave your five or ten thousand cedis to sleep in a savings account, next year or so, it would be useless, as it suffers the ripple effect of depreciation.
But if it’s in dollars, not only would you get better returns, time value of money doesn’t beat the dollar in Ghana. Hundred dollars over the years have proven more robust than the whole economy of Ghana.
Cryptocurrency Binance: A lot of people fear trading in crypto because of market instability, high volatility, and fraud. Risk-averse persons hardly find it enterprising — they don’t want to lose their investment — they want something more promising.
Looking at the bad face of the cedi, and the revised policy on the acquisition of the dollar account, saving in cryptocurrency (which is pegged to the US dollar) is the best option for dealing with the cedi depreciation. It accepts your invested money (cedi, for that matter, changed into dollars) and keeps it from all transactions. So if say you invested (or have saved) $200 it’d be lying in the account without a rise or fall of it, no matter the market forces at play.
Own an Asset: If the above points appear unpatriotic, the best option to save your cedis from falling is to hurriedly own an asset. The money you have in the bank, withdraw some and acquire a plot of land anywhere.
Do not let the location be a bother for now, but consider the value of the land in the next ten years. The land could quadruple in value; lands don’t depreciate, they appreciate. A plot of land in Tse-Addo, La, was sold for ₵50,000 some ten years ago. Today a plot of land is sold for $100,000. So don’t leave your money in your savings account; put it to use.
Even if it’s a single room self-contained you could build, do so. You’d start making returns as time goes on. But if you don’t, that same money would not be able to erect its foundation in times to come because of the time value of money.
Start a Business: Employ your cedi; commit it to a business. There are myriad businesses available in Ghana. Selling of foodstuffs is one which is abashed but it’s profitable. It’s better than having your cedi lying helplessly in the bank.
There are many tomatoes, fruits, etc., in the villages. Some even don’t get to the cities before rotting. Those foodstuffs which their seasons are running out but still have high demands, trade in them.
And don’t forget that the dollar is waiting to devour your cedis. So defend it, your hard-earned money.