Cedi Depreciation: Let multinationals retain 30% of dollar revenues – GNCCI advises gov’t
The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) has urged the government to ensure that multinationals working in the oil and gas sector keep 30% of their dollar revenues in the country.
Speaking at the 46th Annual General Meeting of the GNCCI, President of the Chamber, Clement Osei-Amoako noted that it is imperative to that oil and gas multinationals keep a portion of their dollar revenues in the country.
Additionally, he urged the BoG to be aggressive in its domestic gold purchase programme.
In his view, these measures will help strengthen the local currency.
“The Chamber proposes to the Government of Ghana to work with the multinational companies operating in our offshore Oil & Gas sectors to consider settling a portion of their dollar revenues (20% – 30%) with local banks for Ghana Cedis rather than in their offshore accounts with international banks”.
“In addition, we expect the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to aggressively work on its domestic gold purchasing programme, where BoG works with gold mining companies, both local and foreign to purchase a certain percentage (20% – 30%) of the country’s extracted gold directly in Ghana cedis. This measure when properly implemented will shore-up the country’s foreign currency reserve and further strengthen the domestic currency,” he stated.
Speaking further at the AGM, Mr Osei-Amoako raised concerns over the excessive reliance on monetary policy by the Bank of Ghana to control inflation and the cedi’s depreciation.
According to him, the monetary policy tool is not working but rather worsening the economic situation.
“There is the need to align the monetary and fiscal policies to address the situation by implementing unorthodox homegrown policies to tackle the ongoing economic crisis,” he stated.
The cedi, since the beginning of this year has fallen in value by some 60% against the dollar, making it the world’s worst performing currency against the greenback.
At the moment, engagements between the BoG, the Ghana Association of Bankers (BoG) and the Forex Bureau Association are ongoing.
The engagement is targeted at putting in place measures to stem the depreciation of the cedi by controlling forex circulation in the country as well as the overwhelming demand for the dollar.
