STATEMENT BY THE AFRICA INTERCONNECTED TRADE ASSOCIATION (AITA)- GHANA CHAPTER ON THE RECENT PERFORMANCE OF THE CEDI AGAINST THE DOLLAR

MEMBERS OF The Africa Interconnected Trade Association (AITA)-Ghana Chapter, have observed with mixed reactions, the recent strong performance of the local currency, The Cedi, against the US Dollar and other foreign currencies.

Whilst the AITA sees this development as a positive one, particularly for the local economy which has for the past several months been docked by challenges as a result of extenuating factors, we are equally concerned about its potential impacts on the businesses of our members.

The AITA is particularly worried about our members who rely solely on the US Dollar as the main currency to transact businesses amongst neighbouring African countries.

With a net capital of over One Billion US Dollars ($1BN) spanning various sectors of businesses such as construction, pharmaceuticals, energy, agriculture amongst others, the AITA-Ghana Chapter, has become a major trade force, especially in the West African sub-region.

However, recent happenings in the local economy, ie the strong performance of the cedi against the dollar, has given us cause for concern, as many more of our members have started posing losses in their various fields of business endeavours.

Even more worrying are the projections by both local and international financial experts that the dollar is expected to tumble further in the next few weeks as we enter the Christmas Festivities.

It is for this reason that the AITA, through this release, is calling on it members to adopt proactive measures in order to mitigate the effects on their businesses.

We therefore propose the following measures, in the interim, as recommendations to our members

I. That all members take immediate steps to convert their dollars into cedis in order to avoid further losses in value of their capital

II. That members should limit their import portfolio and as much as possible, source materials locally in order to reduce the dependency on foreign raw materials.

III. Members should refrain from engaging in illegal forex business and instead deal with accredited banking institutions in the country.

IV. Since it has become disincentive to trade in the US Dollar as well as other foreign currencies, we encourage members to limit capital flight to the barest minimum in order to protect their investment from further dwindling.

It is our fervent hope that these measures, though unfortunate, will help in the interim, to protect our investments from losing value as a result of the poor performance of the dollar against the cedi.

LONG LIVE AITA

AITA- The bedrock of Ghana’s Intercontinental trade

Signed

John Kone Nanti

President, AITA- Ghana Chapter

Serketian Salifu

Chief Convener, AITA