Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Henry Kofi Wampah, has predicted the cedi and the economy will stabilise in the second half of the year, when proceeds from Cocobod\u2019s 2014\/15 dollar syndicated loan for cocoa purchases are received by the central bank.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s loan deal, which is estimated to be US$1.8billion and the highest Cocobod has raised in two crop seasons, will be used to purchase beans during the 2014\/2015 cocoa harvest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year we are expecting a bigger crop in terms of value because the price is higher than last year. It is going to be more than 50 percent higher than last year, so at least the second half of the year looks a lot better than what we have in the first half. I believe that we will see stability going forward,\u201d Dr. Wampah said in an interview with the B&FT.<\/p>\n
The local currency has fallen rapidly in the first four months of the year after Ghana\u2019s current account deficit worsened to unsustainable levels and the fiscal deficit remained high at 11 percent of GDP.<\/p>\n
Major import industries such as car dealerships have borne the brunt of the currency\u2019s slide, which has also pushed up inflation to a four-year record while damaging business confidence.<\/p>\n
The Governor said the cedi has seen some stability over the past few weeks, and that the BoG is still monitoring the impact of its extraordinary policies to stem its steep decline.<\/p>\n
The latest of the policies, announced last month, was an increase in the cash reserve requirement of banks from 9 percent to 11 percent of deposits. It followed an earlier hike in the central bank\u2019s policy rate and tighter regulations on the use of foreign currencies in domestic transactions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will review [the measures] at our next meeting and see how developments are. Based on that, if we need to take any additional action, we will,\u201d said Dr. Wampah.<\/p>\n
Asked whether further tightening of monetary policy is on the cards, he replied: \u201cI can\u2019t tell if there will be further tightening. It is not a decision by me alone but a committee that will meet and review all the issues\u201d.<\/p>\n
The BoG\u2019s next monetary-policy meeting is likely to take place in June.<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s cocoa syndicated loan of US$1.2billion will purchase 850,000 tonnes of cocoa beans in the ongoing season which began in October 2013. Cocobod had previously estimated an output of 830,000 tonnes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source: B&FT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Henry Kofi Wampah, has predicted the cedi and the economy will stabilise in the second half of the year, when proceeds from Cocobod\u2019s 2014\/15 dollar syndicated loan for cocoa purchases are received by the central bank. This year\u2019s loan deal, which is estimated to be US$1.8billion and the highest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":5216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[255,252,253,136,254,4,256,257],"yoast_head":"\n