Buy made in Ghana goods to save Cedi – Nduom

Business and Financial specialist, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom says in order to prevent a further depreciation of the Cedi, Ghanaians must consume locally produced goods.

According to Papa Kwesi Nduom, the fast fall of the nation’s currency is because Ghanaians appreciate foreign manufactured goods more than investing in what is made internally.

Deputy Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzi made similar utterances while advocating the increase of consumption of locally manufactured products.

James Klutse Avedzi strongly believed that it is one of the solutions to curtailing the depreciation of the Ghana cedi in relation to other international currencies, especially the US dollar.

“Ghanaians should look at what we can do to our locally produced products, let’s try and consume them,” he noted, adding that government should focus on revamping and assisting local companies “so that we can produce quality goods”.

The economy appears to be nearing distress levels as the Ghana cedi hit a record low at GHC4.86 to $1 on Tuesday, due mainly to global pressures as investors continue to exit emerging market assets.

However, addressing the issue at the 25th anniversary launch of his investment company Gold Coast Holding, founder and president of Groupe Nduom told www.ghanaweb in an interview that the frequent importation of foreign products only puts pressure on the cedi.

“…Buy made in Ghana. It is that simple. The more you want to go and import everything from outside, the more dollars you need. If we are sitting in this country and we say that no rice should come, no sugar should come.”

He suggested that if producers focus more on the exportation of local produce, there will be no need to worry about the rapid devaluation of the Cedi.

“So if government were to decide rice coming from wherever we will now put a 50% tariff. Those who are investing in rice production in Ghana, production will increase [and] we will produce more rice. We might even have a surplus to go and sell it to somebody else and earn foreign currency,” the business consultant said.

He added, “So for me, we can talk all we want until we produce a lot of things in this country and buy them, that problem will continue to be there.”