Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama is the BoG Governor
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Johnson Asiama, has given assurance of continued stability in the performance of the Ghana cedi in the coming days.
While dismissing speculations that the Central Bank had injected dollars into the system, he affirmed that the stability is due to strong inflows and ongoing reforms in the foreign exchange market.
In the last few days, the local currency has seen marginal gains and is currently enjoying some stability on the retail market.
“So, the stability you are seeing now, it’s not because we are intervening in the market. It’s not because we are selling reserves for stability. No,” Dr Asiama was quoted by myjoyonline.com.
He emphasised that the bank’s reserves are also increasing, a factor contributing to the stability of the currency.
“Remember our reserves programme is actually going up by the day. We are building more and more reserves. All that we are doing is strengthening the surge in inflows. It is the combination of all these factors that you are seeing. And so, so long as we hold that anchor, we’ll continue to see stability,” he added.
The cedi, which was selling at GH¢16.05 at the beginning of the year, is currently selling below GH¢15.
Even though this excites importers, the governor noted that a substantive drop may not be healthy for exports.
He noted that for this reason, the Central Bank is observing the trends to keep the rates within limits.
“When we say stability, it doesn’t mean the cedi has to be fixed. It doesn’t mean that the cedi has to over-appreciate, because that in itself is not good for our exports. So, in real terms, we are observing the trends.
“We want to make sure that the cedi is not misaligned in real terms. It stays within some kind of band… something that is appropriate and consistent with macroeconomic stability. All I can tell you at this point is the days of excessive volatility of the cedi are certainly coming to an end,” he added, the report said.
SSD/AE
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