I’m anxious about cedi’s depreciation, efforts being made to curtail it – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured of efforts being made to curtail the ongoing depreciation of the country’s local currency against the United States Dollar.

Since the beginning of this year, the Ghana cedi has depreciated by 4.70 percent in 45 days to the US dollar while selling on the retail market at about GH¢7.09 at some forex bureaus.

Reacting to the development, President Akufo-Addo admitted to the cedi’s performance as being of major concern to him and the government as well as the business community and citizens.

“I’m aware of the anxiety there is in business circles and throughout the population about the recent depreciation of the Cedi. I’m extremely upset and anxious about it too.

“…But I want to assure you that all efforts are being made to arrest the decline and restore the Cedi to stability in order to improve the competitiveness of Ghanaian industry and I think very soon you will see some results,” the president is quoted by Citi Business News.

Meanwhile, the Ghana cedi’s struggles against the major trading currency [US dollar] have also rendered it as the second worst-performing currency, among 15 other top-performing currencies in Africa.

Market analysts have since attributed the cedi’s current woes to upside risks such as the high-interest payments, lack of adequate revenue mobilization, increasing government expenditure and high debt concerns.

As of Friday, February 18, the Ghana cedi was going for GH¢6.43 on the interbank foreign exchange market.