The Ghana Electronics and Musical Instruments Dealers Association is appealing to the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to use the mid-year budget to address exchange rate challenges in the country.

Chairman of the association, Vincent Osei, appealed to the Finance Minister to consider pegging the cedi at a fixed rate to reduce the cost of doing business in the country.

Speaking to Joy Business on the sidelines of a health screening for the elderly as part of the association’s 15th anniversary celebration, Mr. Osei said, a robust cedi performance will help reduce the cost of doing business.

“The main point is the cedi, no businessman in Ghana if the cedi is fluctuating will be able to work out things well, no businessman”.

“But if the cedi is pegged at one position, then you a businessman will sit and strategise very well. However if the cedi is not pegged at one position, selling becomes difficult”. 

The cedi remained stable in June 2023 and July 2024 against the US dollar, indicating the positive impact of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme on Ghana.  According to data from the Bank of Ghana, the cedi’s year-to-date depreciation stood at 22.1% as of July 21, 2023.

This is compared with 22.1% in March 2023, 21.7% in April 2023, 21.8% in May 2023 and 22.0% in June 2023.

Actually, the first two months of 2023 were not encouraging until the cedi stabilised in March 2023 against the dollar. It has since recorded some stability against the major foreign currencies up till today July 22, 2023.