Policy Think Tank, Centre for Freedom and Accuracy (CFA) has jumped to the defense of Bank of Ghana saying, “The central bank should not be entirely blamed for the fast depreciation of the cedi against the Dollar.”
Assessing the state of the Ghanaian economy at a news conference in Accra, Executive Director for the CFA, Mr. Andrew Awuni advised government to stop pretending and take pragmatic steps to fix the ailing economy.
He observed that government had succeeded in planting the central bank in the centre of Ghana’s financial crises.
“In the process it appears that government is making the Bank of Ghana a scapegoat for what has happened and I think that it is not only disingenuous but it is also most unfair.”
He remarked, “The central bank is a custodian, regulator and supervisor of the financial sector but the central bank’s role does not extend to the generation of government revenue.”
He diagnosed the fast depreciation of the cedi against the Dollar saying, “The issue with the cedi depreciation is basically about demand and supply and the answers that we should be looking for will have to address how to either reduce demands or increase supply.”
He condemned the importation of finished petroleum products into the country at a time the nation could boast of oil finds in large quantities.
“We need to find out why we are buying finished petroleum products from Europe for the Ghanaian economy when we have an oil refinery idling and that in itself causes a lot of out flow of Dollars.”
Mr. Awuni claimed more than 2.6 billion Dollars is spent annually buying finished petroleum products from abroad to serve Ghanaians when government could have made savings by utilizing the Tema oil refinery.
He suggested to government to adopt a market solution to the current economic crises and desist from attempting to restrict the private sector.
“The issue should be addressed but addressed from the government; the attempt by the government to attack and restrict the private sector is certainly not the proper response.”
He added, “The problem we have is a market problem and can only be solved with market solutions.”
By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana