President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo must immediately dissolve the Economic Management Team (EMT) and also sack his Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta following the troubles of the Cedi, Member of Parliament for North Tongu Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has said.
He also wants the President to suspend the regional tours he is embarking on and immediately convene a non-partisan emergency economic rescue forum to harvest fresh ideas on how to resolve the economic challenges.
In a tweet Mr Ablakwa said “The total crash of the Cedi must be seen as a major national security threat. President Akufo-Addo should immediately suspend his regional booing tours, sack his Finance Minister, dissolve his failed EMT & convene a non-partisan emergency economic rescue forum to harvest fresh ideas.”
He is not the only one calling for a national dialogue on the economy.
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The Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, Mr Kwakye Agyemang Duah has also the time has come for a national dialogue on the economic challenges facing the country to be organised.
The dialogue, in his view, will bring together experts to brainstorm on the ideas in minimizing the challenges that the people are saddled with presently.
Speaking on the New Day Show with Roland Walker on Friday October 21, Mr Agyemang Duah said “We need a national dialogue.”
President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) Dr Joseph Obeng also made same comment on the same show.
He said “bring all of us together, let us discuss the problems together and solve them together.”
Regarding the performance of the Cedi against the Dollar, Vice President of Forex Beurau Association of Ghana, Dr Alex Akpabli called for a shift in the approach to resolving the unpleasant relationship between the two currencies.
He said the same old strategies being adopted by the managers of the economy are not working.
Also speaking on the New Day show with Roland Walker on TV3 Friday October 21, he said “the challenges we are facing today can’t be solved by the same practice, there must be a paradigm shift.”
Dr Alex Akpabli further said that the activities of the black marketers pose a serious challenge to them.
“We have the parallel market that competes with us, the black market, that is the challenge.
“If you need Dollar come to us and we can help but if you choose black market which is not safe then there is a problem.”
President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) Dr Joseph Obeng also indicated that there is a powerful association behind black market operations in Ghana.
He explained that these operators mostly receive up to date forex information that sometimes the regulated operators do not even have.
“Who is giving them this information?” He asked also on the New Day show.
He added “there is a cartel which is being built by black market, it is dangerous. Who is giving them the rate, it is a cartel.
“People are shying away from the main stream banks and and doing businesses with the Black markets.”
The Bank of Ghana (BoG), together with the Ghana Police Service, on Tuesday 20th September 2022, conducted a special operation on foreign exchange (forex) parallel market operators (otherwise known as black market operators) at identified hot spots within Business District (Rawlings Park, Tudu, Cowlane, Circle, Kimbu, Timber Market and Lava) and throughout the country.
In all about 76 perpetrators were apprehended by the police for prosecution. The special operation will continue nationwide.
The purpose of the operation was to clamp down on individuals and entities engaging in the business of buying and selling foreign exchange without a licence from Bank of Ghana in violation of Ghana’s foreign exchange laws and regulations.
Speaking to Journalists after exercise, the Head of the Foreign Exchange Bureau Examinations Office, at the Bank of Ghana, Adjoa Konadu Torto, indicated that the exercise will continue in other parts of the country in the coming days.
She maintained that members of the public who patronise the activities of ‘Black Market” operators are equally guilty before the law.
“The over 76 perpetrators were apprehended by the police for prosecution. The special operation will continue nationwide”.
“The purpose of the operation was to clamp down on individuals and entities engaging in the business of buying and selling foreign exchange without a licence from Bank of Ghana in violation of Ghana’s foreign Exchange Laws and regulations”, she explained.
She cautioned the general public to desist from engaging in illegal foreign exchange business without a licence.
“The general public must always trade with the Bank of Ghana licensed foreign exchange (forex) bureaux. Accordingly, the Anti-Money Laundering ACT, 2020 (Act 1044) as amended instructs all bureau customers to insist on their electronic receipts by providing the acceptable valid ID, the Ghana Card, to cover the buying and selling of all foreign currencies”, she added.
