Frank Annoh-Dompreh
MAJORITY CHIEF Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, has called on the executive and its policymakers to take additional measures directed at restoring prices of food items and other goods, to sustainable levels.
He said the prevailing high cost of goods that mainly followed the depreciation of the cedi in the past three months, ought to come down, now that “we are currently experiencing a turnaround from the depreciation.”
Making a statement on the floor of Parliament yesterday, Mr. Annoh-Dompreh, who is also the MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, noted that the expected economic relief was not being felt by the ordinary Ghanaian “since goods are still being sold at high prices.”
“The cedi was down almost 48 per cent against the dollar from its initial position early this year. Presently, it has strengthened more than 23 per cent since the start of December after the latest IMF visit,” he pointed out.
“According to the Bretton Wood institution’s October 2022 Africa Pulse Report, food prices have since January 1, 2022, gone up by 122 per cent.
“The BBC’s news report indicates Ghana’s inflation rate increased to 50.3% in November, which is 10% up from the previous month rate of 40.4%,” he stated.
He disclosed that the government was taking measures to stabilise the foreign exchange rates which were a major contributor to the rate of price changes.
The MP said the Director of Research at the Bank of Ghana (BoG) disclosed in a briefing that a myriad of factors initiated by the government have accounted for the recent appreciation of the Ghana Cedi.
He pointed to a reduction of import of foreign goods, staff-level agreement between Ghana and the IMF, BoG’s monetary policy, as well as the 2023 Budget and Economic Policy announcing the domestic debt exchange to sustainably manage “our debt and strengthen financial stability.”
“In the same vein, government interventions to reduce the price of petroleum products,” he added.
He asserted that forex was favourable, yet prices were still high on the market, raising concern, which he said had found its way in many of parliamentary debates in the past few weeks.
MP for Obuasi West, Kwaku Agyemang Kwarteng, said the culture of people almost encouraging sellers who increased their prices because of exchange rate deterioration to keep price unchanged was not the best.
According to him, for the same reason that sellers have to increase their prices because the cedi depreciation, now that the currency has seen appreciation, he expects his colleagues to tell the traders to reduce their prices.
BY Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House