Sources within the Bank of Ghana (BoG) have denied reports in a section of the Ghanaian media that opening of new dollar accounts has been embargoed as part of measures to curtail the fall of the Ghanaian Cedi.
“No such decision has been taken by the Bank of Ghana,” a source said when 3news.com called to cross check the reports.
“Such reports are fake,” the source added.
The Central Bank in a tweet also said “Bank of Ghana has not issued any directive to local banks to stop the opening of new dollar accounts.”
The regulator in an earlier statement called for calm as it has introduced measures to resolve the fall of the Cedi.
The BoG has identified five key reasons for the woes of the local currency.
These are “The strength of the US dollar, Investor reaction to Credit Rating Downgrade, Non-Roll over of Maturing Bonds, The sharp rise in crude oil prices and impact on the Oil Bill, Loss of External Financing.”
The measures introduced to resolve these, according to the BoG, are “Gold Purchase Program to increase foreign exchange reserves; Special Foreign Exchange Auction for the Bulk Distribution Company’s (BDCs) to help with the importation of petroleum products; Bank of Ghana is entering into a cooperation agreement with the mining companies to provide BOG with the opportunity to buy gold as when it becomes available.
“The Bank of Ghana is supporting the banking sector with foreign currency liquidity to help meet demand for external payments. The recently approved USD750,000,000 Afriexim loan facility by Parliament, once disbursed, will boost the foreign exchange position of the country and help restore confidence.
“The Cocoa Loan is expected in the last quarter of the year. This facility will also help provide more foreign currency to help address the cedi depreciation. In the short term, we expect that when the IMF programme is finalized, it will also go a long way to help restore confidence in the economy and drive portfolio flows.”
These measures will go a long way to increase the foreign exchange reserve position of the Central Bank, a statement issued by the BoG said.
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