Government has instituted a Foreign Exchange (FX) Development Committee as part of efforts to regulate the supply and demand of forex in the country.  This follows an order from the president to the Finance Minister to investigate the structural causes for the depreciation of the cedi and to propose measures to address the situation.  The committee comprises a representative each from the Finance Ministry, Agric Ministry, Bank of Ghana, Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), IMANI Africa among others. Addressing the media upon the constitution of the committee, Deputy Finance Minister, Charles Adu-Boahen explained, the move further complements efforts by the government to stabilize the cedi. “As has empirically been established, the seasonal fall of the cedi can be explained by external headwinds and cyclical domestic demand for forex by corporates and individuals for trade settlements in recent times, increasing demands by the energy sector actors as well. Giving the debilitating impact of the cedi's depreciation, the government had established a foreign exchange development committee to address this challenge”. Head of Payment Systems at the Bank of Ghana, Dr Settor Amediku further expressed the Central Bank’s move to automate payment systems to stabilize the cedi. “We have initiated actions like the Pan Africa Payment and Settlement System to ensure and efficient settlement systems,” he stated. Meanwhile, President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association, Dr Joseph Obeng lamented, “the disconnect regarding Ghana’s export earnings as well as import expenditure”. He is confident the committee will go a long way to deal with this issue. Highlighting the importance of the agriculture sector in stabilizing the currency, Agric ministry, Dr Afriyie Akoto Osei expressed moves to double the production of major cash crops in the country as well as boost rice and poultry production which constitutes close to $2 billion yearly. Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, addressing Parliament Thursday, March 28 2019, said “Mr Speaker, the President has directed that I investigate the structural causes for the depreciation of the cedi and to propose measures to address the situation. The Governor and I will put a bipartisan committee together to proceed immediately.” He was in parliament to make a statement on Ghana’s exit of a three-year IMF bail-out programme, the Eurobond success as well as the depreciation of the Ghana cedi. Mr Ofori-Atta said the recent depreciation of the Ghana cedi was not as a result of weak economic fundamentals, an argument supported by Professor of Economics at the University of Ghana, Eric Osei Assibey. The cedi has in the past few days rebounded strongly as the Finance Minister attributed the recent depreciation of the Ghana cedi to speculation of the currency among others.  So far, some financial experts have advised that it is more appropriate to use financial and other monetary instruments to combat rapid depreciation of the cedi rather than to resort to rigid control measures that have the effect of weakening public confidence in the financial and the exchange rate system.