Ghana Crunch Cabinet Meeting on Forex

{{The Ghana Cabinet will today discuss the new foreign exchange (forex) regulations announced by the Bank of Ghana last Wednesday.}}

The Bank of Ghana notices announced measures to arrest the declining value of the cedi, a development which has caused some uneasiness in the business community.

While some analysts have welcomed the measures and challenged the Bank of Ghana to ensure strict enforcement, others say the measures are unfair to businesses and will boost the illegal currency market, referred to as black market.

There is, however, a general agreement as noted by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) that there is excessive dollarisation of the economy.

Ministry of Finance sources told local media that the Central Bank Governor and his team would then hold discussions with the Cabinet on public concerns arising from the implementation of the measures.

In a related development many emerging-market currencies are falling against the dollar.

Since January 22, this year, the Argentine peso has fallen by 14 per cent.

It may be the most dramatic plunge among emerging-market currencies in recent days, but it is hardly alone.

From Turkey to South Africa to India, the currencies have been weakening against the American dollar.

Most have shed between 10 and 20 per cent of their value since May, 2013 when Ben Bernanke, the outgoing Chairman of American Federal Reserve, utterred the word “tapering”, the code for reducing America’s bond- buying under quantitative easing.

Each market has specific worries. South Africa and Turkey have gaping current account deficits. Ukraine and Thailand are riven by political protests.

Brazil is vulnerable to China’s slowdown. Argentina is running out of international reserves with which to prop up the peso. But when markets start falling, contagion is always a worry.

{myjoyonline}