Alan Kyeremanten has called for a national dialogue on the country?s economy to advance various contributions to shore the waning national currency.
Such a dialogue should involve various stakeholders such as economists, businessmen, gender activists, among others, he said, adding that ?the inputs of such diverse persons would be meaningful and help us arrive at critical solutions to the challenges facing the Cedi and the economy.
Mr Kyeremanten, who disclosed this during an Oman FM morning programme yesterday, noted that unless effective interventions were employed, the situation of the economy would remain dire.
?Such a dialogue, as opposed to the current piecemeal approach, would be meaningful. The current state of the Cedi has rendered the national budget out of gear,? he said, noting that the state of the Cedi and the economy should not be left to the government and Bank of Ghana (BoG) alone.
The former Trade Minister under the previous Kufuor administration and a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) asked government to launch a major diplomatic initiative to plead for a rescheduling our loans.
The servicing of such loans, he noted, was seriously affecting the Cedi and economy in general.
We are unable to turn to HIPC again at this time but can only demand a rescheduling of our loan payments out of our economic predicament, he said.
Another area government should consider is negotiating at the highest level with foreign companies repatriating profits in dollars given the state of our economy, he said.
Local manufacturing companies, he said, must be provided with the necessary incentives to produce for internal consumption as a way of reducing the importation of products, which eats into our foreign exchange.
Mr. Alan Kyeremanten suggested the floating of cocoa bond in Cedis which he said should be used for the purchase of cocoa from farmers.
?This way the dollar payment from overseas would be intact,? he said.
When the apex bank and government engage in a discussion on reducing the policy rate from its present 18% to 6%, it would go a long way in shoring up the Cedi, Alan said.
He noted that in spite of the drop in the world market price of crude oil, the automatic adjustment pricing has not seen a reduction in the price of fuel, a situation he attributed to the dire state of the Cedi.
?Without the Bank of Ghana and government intervention in a meaningful manner, nothing will change.?
By A.R. Gomda
