Politics
Ghana has a smaller fistful of dollars
Commodities to blame
Speaking at the American Chambers of Commerce Summit in Accra in February, vice-president Kwesi Amissah-Arthur attributed the depreciation of the cedi to a decrease in commodity prices, with gold and cocoa both dropping 20% in value since 2011.
“In 2013, Ghana lost $1.3bn [in] potential export revenue due to price declines on these two products,” he said.
The forex trading restrictions have dampened economic activity. According to one bank chief executive: “It is not business as usual.” Bankers hope this will lead to only short-term problems.
In its latest assessment of the Ghanaian economy, the International Monetary Fund urged the government to “address the short-term vulnerabilities, contain rising public debt levels and reduce interest rates” in order to stabilise the economy and support private-sector development, growth and employment creation over the medium term.
Source: The Africa Report
