Government institutes measures to address ‘free fall’ of cedi – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the government is putting in place measures to address the structural causes of the fragile currency.

According to him, the “free fall” of the currency was due to the high demand for foreign currencies and goods produced outside the country.

He said his administration was focusing on measures to increase local production of certain goods imported into the country as part of the long term solution to the weak currency.

“We live in a country where we are overly dependent on the importation of things for our daily sustenance. Things we can produce, we continue to export them.”

“And at the same time, we don’t generate enough export,” he said and stressed the need for public discourse to focus on addressing how the country could reduce import.

In an interaction with members of the Ghana Bar Association at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday, President Akufo-Addo said the cedi was beginning to show signs of recovery.

He was hopeful that the trend would continue and expressed the commitment on the part of government to work to further stabilise the currency.

President Akufo-Addo said the Ministry of Trade would soon come out with a list of the country’s import profile for the public to know the things being imported that could be produced locally.

He indicated that the One District One Factory Policy was not just a political gimmick but an attempt to address the issue of being self-reliant.

“This whole Ghana Beyond Aid mantra is about self-reliant, of doing for ourselves, things that we continue to depend on other people to do”.

“If you buy things abroad, you are creating work outside Ghana which you can create inside this country and at the same time, be much more competitive in the things we produce,” he said.

He said the country did not have enough dollars but people were still looking for dollars and added that such situations caused the currency to become weak.

President Akufo-Addo further touched on the recent power challenges and indicated that the worst form of the power challenges were behind us.

He noted that his administration inherited a US$5 billion debt from the previous administration and added that arrangements to pay off the debt imposed burden on the public exchequer.

The President said efforts were being made to address the challenges in the energy sector permanently.

The President of the Ghana Bar Association, Anthony Forson, raised the issues of weak currency and energy crises in the course of interaction with the President.

He also touched on the level of lawlessness and impunity in the country, including the issue of vigilantism and urged the government to address those issues.