Government says it will roll out a comprehensive strategy to enforce new measures introduced by the Bank of Ghana to arrest the continued depreciation of the cedi.

Information and Media Relations Minister Mahama Ayariga said the expertise of the intelligence agencies will be tapped to ensure the effectiveness of the new measures.

The Bank of Ghana suspects the increasing dollarization of the country’s economy is the cause of the depreciating cedi.

As part of measures announced by the Bank of Ghana to halt the depreciation of the cedi, all business transactions in the country must be conducted in the local currency.

Cash withdrawals over the counter from the foreign exchange must not exceed 10,000 dollars, the Bank of Ghana warned.

Critics have however doubted the feasibility of the measures and how they can effectively be implemented.

On Joy FM’s Newsfile programme, the Editor in Chief of the Crusading Guide Newspaper Malik Kweku Baako said government’s attempt to control and command the economy is unsustainable.

He said he is generally cynical about such methods of running the economy because even in the past, a whole market was blasted with dynamite in a hope of fighting what was known as kalabule. Even that did not work, Baako noted.

Others are also raising issues about how unfair the measures are, especially because it will take a retroactive effect.

Some of the critics argue that a person who deposited his or her currency in the bank, prior to the introduction of these new measure must be allowed to withdraw in the currency of choice and not be controlled and directed to withdraw in cedi.

But Mahama Ayariga who was also on the Newsfile programme, insisted government is ready to police these new measures and will do so competently and efficiently.

He said for people who have made it a habit to move from one forex bureau to another or from one bank to another to flout the new regulations, the intelligence agencies will deal adequately with them.

“You [security] pretend that you want to buy dollars, the person gives you the dollars and you arrest the person. It is that simple,” he stated.

He said the citizens cannot claim to have a problem with dollarization and still turn around to chastise the government for taking steps to solve the dollarization debacle.

Dr Nii Moi Thompson who was also on the show, supported the idea that the new measures must be enforced but with finesse.

He said the military or the police must not be used for these operations.