GUTA President, Dr Joseph Obeng
The current subject of all conversations in Ghana is increasing inflation and the fall of the cedi. Transport prices have been increased, with many Ghanaians complaining about incurring huge costs instead of gaining money when coming to work. For weeks and months now, the value of the cedi has been decreasing constantly. As a result, everything is becoming more and more expensive. Currently, one dollar is going for 13.014 cedis. This is an improvement to the latest rate, but still, the general trend is going down. The issue is carried mainly on the traders’ shoulders – they are the ones who people point their fingers at as soon as the prices rise. Many Ghanaians accuse them of taking advantage of the situation and adjusting their prices to margins which fit them best. How does inflation really affect the country and its citizens? Are the traders surviving or do they need to close their shops? Samuel Eshun, host of e.tv Ghana’s ‘Fact Sheet’ show addressed the issue at hand with president of GUTA, Dr. Joseph Obeng, who shared his thoughts on the economic situation and the performance of the cedi. “It is my wish that we do not speculate around the dollar in a negative sense again”, Mr. Obeng said. He explains that this negative speculation is dangerous and leads to panic buying. The GUTA president says the government need to inspire hope in the economy to turn this speculation in a positive direction. Another danger, in his eyes, is people profiting from the situation by putting their money in the bank in one country and taking it back in another, knowing that the rate is “lucky” for them. To prevent this, Mr. Obeng claims the Bank of Ghana could have easily dropped a directive that stops people from doing so. GUTA has also been proposing alternative currencies to ease the pressure on the dollar. However, out of all the recommendations which were presented by the president just last week, this was the only one that he refused. Last week, there was a discussion on a replacement of finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta. Now, the party has issued a statement to the effect that the president has agreed with them that the finance minister must be allowed to complete the IMF negotiation and to ensure that the preparation for the budget is done. Obeng claims to be neutral to this decision as long as the finance minister, new or old, inspires an improvement in the economy. The GUTA president confirms the fact that businesses are collapsing due to the weak performance of the cedi. In the beginning of this year, one dollar was still going for 6.2 cedis. Since then, the situation has gotten drastically worse. “Businesses are collapsing, and they are collapsing fast.” To survive as a business, he says the prevailing rate has to be benchmarked. You have to apply wisdom to your trading. This kind of forecast is very important.” He explains that you cannot simply overprize yourself out of the competition, because the customers are smart and not robots. You need to adapt to the competitors and the market. Dr. Joseph Obeng rejects allegations that him like other businessmen are taking advantage of the situation. “It is not true, and can never be true,” he said. Obeng emphasizes that IMF is of utmost importance to the economy. “Everything is rallied around the IMF discussion for the future of this economy.” He explains that the country suffers from a serious structural problem. To solve this, he says, “We have to be able to pinpoint the areas that are making the economy suffer. We are in a deep hole. It is not about the money that is coming. It is about the highness and the voters who are going to swallow the money.” In his opinion, it is important to communicate clearly to IMF on where Ghana’s problems lie. When it comes to the government, Mr. Obeng wishes for pragmatic, outside-the-box thinking to bring a solution to the people. “It is the time of the crisis that brings the best of leadership,” he said. In the GUTA president’s opinion, we can no longer make the pandemic or the Ukraine war responsible for the economic situation. “We are in a global village, all of us have problems.” Ghana is one of those countries in his eyes, and therefore it needs to find out where the problem is and solve it.
The current subject of all conversations in Ghana is increasing inflation and the fall of the cedi. Transport prices have been increased, with many Ghanaians complaining about incurring huge costs instead of gaining money when coming to work. For weeks and months now, the value of the cedi has been decreasing constantly. As a result, everything is becoming more and more expensive. Currently, one dollar is going for 13.014 cedis. This is an improvement to the latest rate, but still, the general trend is going down. The issue is carried mainly on the traders’ shoulders – they are the ones who people point their fingers at as soon as the prices rise. Many Ghanaians accuse them of taking advantage of the situation and adjusting their prices to margins which fit them best. How does inflation really affect the country and its citizens? Are the traders surviving or do they need to close their shops? Samuel Eshun, host of e.tv Ghana’s ‘Fact Sheet’ show addressed the issue at hand with president of GUTA, Dr. Joseph Obeng, who shared his thoughts on the economic situation and the performance of the cedi. “It is my wish that we do not speculate around the dollar in a negative sense again”, Mr. Obeng said. He explains that this negative speculation is dangerous and leads to panic buying. The GUTA president says the government need to inspire hope in the economy to turn this speculation in a positive direction. Another danger, in his eyes, is people profiting from the situation by putting their money in the bank in one country and taking it back in another, knowing that the rate is “lucky” for them. To prevent this, Mr. Obeng claims the Bank of Ghana could have easily dropped a directive that stops people from doing so. GUTA has also been proposing alternative currencies to ease the pressure on the dollar. However, out of all the recommendations which were presented by the president just last week, this was the only one that he refused. Last week, there was a discussion on a replacement of finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta. Now, the party has issued a statement to the effect that the president has agreed with them that the finance minister must be allowed to complete the IMF negotiation and to ensure that the preparation for the budget is done. Obeng claims to be neutral to this decision as long as the finance minister, new or old, inspires an improvement in the economy. The GUTA president confirms the fact that businesses are collapsing due to the weak performance of the cedi. In the beginning of this year, one dollar was still going for 6.2 cedis. Since then, the situation has gotten drastically worse. “Businesses are collapsing, and they are collapsing fast.” To survive as a business, he says the prevailing rate has to be benchmarked. You have to apply wisdom to your trading. This kind of forecast is very important.” He explains that you cannot simply overprize yourself out of the competition, because the customers are smart and not robots. You need to adapt to the competitors and the market. Dr. Joseph Obeng rejects allegations that him like other businessmen are taking advantage of the situation. “It is not true, and can never be true,” he said. Obeng emphasizes that IMF is of utmost importance to the economy. “Everything is rallied around the IMF discussion for the future of this economy.” He explains that the country suffers from a serious structural problem. To solve this, he says, “We have to be able to pinpoint the areas that are making the economy suffer. We are in a deep hole. It is not about the money that is coming. It is about the highness and the voters who are going to swallow the money.” In his opinion, it is important to communicate clearly to IMF on where Ghana’s problems lie. When it comes to the government, Mr. Obeng wishes for pragmatic, outside-the-box thinking to bring a solution to the people. “It is the time of the crisis that brings the best of leadership,” he said. In the GUTA president’s opinion, we can no longer make the pandemic or the Ukraine war responsible for the economic situation. “We are in a global village, all of us have problems.” Ghana is one of those countries in his eyes, and therefore it needs to find out where the problem is and solve it.
