President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Dr. Joseph Obeng has called on the government to restructure the laws on investment.

According to him, there ought to be some retention in the investment laws to restrain monies raised from leaving the shores of the country.

He stated that in the absence of these laws, the country will continue to face the problem of cedi depreciation.

“If you look at banking, extractive industries, communication – these areas command the bulk of money that comes to the nation and all of this monies goes out of the shores of Ghana while we do not have retention by way of investment law making it possible that we have invested in these areas and retaining about 40 percent,” he said.

His concern is in the wake of the dollar hitting the ¢11 to $1 mark as some forex bureaus in parts of Accra are selling a dollar at an average of ¢11.2 on Saturday, October 8, 2022.

Checks by Joy Business indicate that the demand for the dollar keeps surging, as there are very few dollars in circulation.

Some forex bureau operators who spoke to Joy Business on condition of anonymity said the recent action by the Bank of Ghana has yielded little return.

According to them, there are no dollars in circulation.

Meanwhile, the last Forex Forward by the Bank of Ghana indicates that demand exceeded supply by $75.25 million in the latest auction.

This is compared with the $82.75 million recorded a month ago. This is despite the recent 750 million dollars injected into the system.

The development is impacting heavily on businesses, especially importers.

Mr. Obeng advised that companies operating in the country that do not bring in forex should be checked.

“Investment laws should be structured such that companies like the China Malls and all that, that do not bring in any forex, but then they only open their supermarkets and repatriate all the foreign exchange that we have without bringing benchmark investment that they will use the same value deposited at Bank of Ghana, we don’t have it.”