Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Ghana, Prof. Ebo Turkson, has emphasised the need for sustained effort to increase exports and reduce imports in government's quest to check the depreciation of the Cedi.

He said this will significantly reduce the volatility of the exchange rate between the cedi and the major foreign currencies.

"No matter how well the economy is doing and the Central Bank has resources to sustain the currency, we need to come to a realisation that the more we are import-oriented, the likelihood that we are going to face some of these problems. Depreciation is high because our ability to cushion it is limited," he said.

He made the call on the Super Morning Show, on Tuesday, as part of conversations on the rate of depreciation of the Ghana cedi.

The comment also comes days after Joy Business checks at some forex bureaus and commercial banks revealed that a dollar is being sold at a little above GH¢7. This has been largely attributed to the uncertainty about Ghana’s fiscal outlook, despite interventions by the Bank of Ghana.

During the show, the Professor contended that Ghana needs to adopt long-term measures to put this in check, such as "producing what we import and reducing imports." He cited the 'one district one factory' initiative as a major project that can boost this drive.

"Every day we forgo domestically produced goods, we individuals are in our own way depreciating the Cedi. The short term. We need to put in place this infrastructure to turn things around. If we don't change the structure of production in our economy to begin to add value to rely more on domestically produced goods, no matter which government is in power, we are going to be saddled with the problems," he said.