Banking Consultant, Dr. Richmond Atuahene, has blamed the volatility of the country’s currency – the Ghana cedi – for the tendency of wealthy people to hoard their wealth outside the banking system.

According to him, the cedi’s vulnerability to both internal and external forces resulting in its often sharp decline against the dollar makes it an undesirable store of value.

His solution – the banking consultant has called on the government to put in place a strategic export development structure to resolve the currency depreciation.

He explained that ramping up the export strength of the country will help stabilize the currency allowing the cedi to appreciate against the dollar and improving its desirability as a store of value.

“It is good to have the laws but we must keep our economy running properly so that the value of the currency will be as it is. In a country where you import more than export, definitely you’re going to have an impact on your currency. And that is where we should tackle our problem and to be able to resolve this currency depreciation we must export more.

“But unfortunately it looks like it’s a magic, people will tell you that we’re arresting the currency when you have not put in place any strategic export development structure. I mean, you can’t arrest the currency by borrowing to help the cedi, no; it is never done in any economics. Temporarily you can succeed but in the long run you can’t,” he said on JoyNews’ PM Express.

He said the recent uncertainties in the financial sector and the economy as a whole have had a devastating impact on the public’s perception of the financial sector and thus it is only commonsensical for one to want to hoard money in a foreign currency away from the banks.

“So any rational human being will ask himself, ‘do I go for a little dollar, a little euro?’ because that is the only way he thinks he can save. But if the economy is running well and everything is stabilized, I mean, I remember in 2006 I believe the dollar and the cedi after the change or something, people in America were coming down here and asking that ‘o we want the cedi’ because they didn’t want the dollar.

“So the whole matter as we’re discussing to me, we should sit down as a country and have a national agenda to develop our export consistently,” he said.

Dr. Richmond Atuahene was speaking in relation to sanitation minister, Cecilia Dappah’s cash hoarding case.

Two house helps, 18-year-old Patience Botwe and 30-year-old Sarah Agyei, along with three others are facing charges following their alleged involvement in the theft of $1 million, €300,000, and millions of Ghana cedis being the monies and personal effects of Cecilia Dapaah and her husband, between the months of July and October 2022.

She however, is disputing the amounts quoted on prosecution charge sheets to have been stolen in all, saying they are inconsistent with what she reported to the police.

Meanwhile, the minister has resigned and has since been arrested by the special prosecutor for corruption and corruption-related offences.