Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
THE BANK of Ghana (BoG) has announced will meet Managing Directors of some banks and heads of forex bureaux associations for discussions aimed at stabilising the local currency and accessing forex among others today.
Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who disclosed this at a media engagement in Accra yesterday, said the meeting will among other things, discuss measures aimed at helping to halt the overpricing and how people could get access to forex for legitimate transactions without hindrance at the banking halls.
“May I say that tomorrow morning, the Bank of Ghana will be meeting some of the Managing Directors of some of the banks and heads of forex bureaux associations for a series of discussions aimed at ensuring that the supply of forex to the forex market is stabilised and the over pricing is also halted and that people who will need access to forex for legitimate transactions can get same without hindrance at the banking halls, and at the forex bureaux, as against the black market or using some rate coming from some other quarters,” he said.
He also hinted that the meeting will also discuss some longer lasting measures to ensure the stabilisation of forex trade even as the country expected a lot more inflow of forex following the completion of the syndication of the cocoa board transaction.
The minister mentioned that due to the economic challenges facing countries globally, the government, in anticipation of the difficulties Ghana was likely to face, put in place measures to contain the challenges including a budget cut.
He said the engagement with the IMF team by the Economic Management Team (EMT) is yielding positive results and would discuss some outcomes of the meeting at a Cabinet meeting with the President this week.
“My understanding is that today, the economic management team will apprise itself of the latest numbers as have been put together and some of the recommendations as we get into the final part of the year and then from Thursday, Cabinet itself will be meeting on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The President will chair to receive what has gone through the EMT, to receive an update on the negotiations so that decisions can be made and subsequently, he can update the nation on the next step forward,” he added.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah