Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) politician, Hopeson Adorye, has called on the government of Ghana to halt the black market forex trade if it wants to consolidate the cedi’s recent gains against the dollar.
Speaking on UTV’s morning political talk show, Adekye Nsoroma, Hopeson Adorye said the proliferation of the black market trade contributes massively to the cedi’s constant depreciation against the dollar.
Explaining his point, Hopeson, who is currently a member of the Movement for Change party headed by Alan Kyeremanten, said the ‘Abochi’s’, the informal term for the individuals involved in the black market trade, are able to control the cedi-dollar rate from the black market, which then ripples throughout the Ghanaian economy.
Adorye said if their trade is stopped, the Bank of Ghana and banks can then have tighter control on the exchange rate and ensure the cedi remains relatively strong against the dollar.
Adorye also accused directors of the Bank of Ghana and other bank managers of selling forex to the black market since they provide better rates than the official ones, pocketing the profit.
“I’ve told the Bank of Ghana Governor, Governor Asiamah, that some of his directors are thieves,” Hopeson Adorye said. “When the Bank of Ghana receives foreign exchange (dollars) and ask their directors to distribute it to the local banks, they (the directors) use their discretion to skim off part of the dollars.”
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He continued, “If they’re ordered to send $100,000 to a particular bank, they only send $40,000 and sell the remaining $60,000 and pocket the profit.”
Adorye said the banks are also culpable, as they also sell part of their dollar allocations to black market traders. This creates a shortage of forex at the banks that is then exploited by the black market to exchange at higher prices, dooming the cedi.
Hopeson Adorye advised the government, particularly the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana, to set up a task force to crack down on the black market trade to ensure the stability of the cedi. He added that Ghana’s business community will be extremely pleased if the black market trade is ended once and for all.
