An economist and finance lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Professor Lord Mensah, has stated that Ghana’s cedi depreciation is as a result of the appetite for foreign goods imported into the country.
Speaking on Plan-B FM’s morning show dubbed Nkosuo Nsem, the finance lecturer told Ohene Addo, host of the show that the country’s currency depreciation could be attributed to the demand for foreign imported products and explained that the surest way to reverse the trend would be to reduce the consumption of imported products while increasing the consumption of locally manufactured products and services.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo during a recent addressing told a gathering that he is extremely upset over the cedi depreciation adding that his government is working hard to turn things around in that regard.
Prof. Mensah continued that the country needs a national policy which will aim to stabilise the currency rather than using Cocoa syndicated loans and euro bonds to stabilise which according to him will only mitigate the issue for a short term. He urged the Akufo-Addo led government to increase its effort in the establishing more factories which will be able to create jobs for a lot of the country’s youth most of whom are currently jobless.
“If we are bold enough to produce 50% of what we consume in this country and also if we are able to construct our roads to reduce the importation of spare parts, the cedi will appreciate” he added.
Prof. Lord Mensah concluding, noted that the government must stick to policies like One-District-One-One-Factory, which according to him would improve the country economy by the number of jobs these factories would have created. He further urged government to ensure that it execute most of its campaign promises which is largely the bane on which electorates vote them into power.
He was of the view that if drastic measures are put in place the depreciation of the cedis will soon be a thing of the past.
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