Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Dr. John Kwakye, has called on all economists to contribute ideas for resolving the challenges facing the local currency.

Expressing his frustration, Dr. Kwakye questioned why, despite the abundance of economists in Ghana, the Cedi continues to face difficulties.

In a series of posts on his X page, he said “As economists, we have a duty to rescue the vanishing cedi. I am inviting all economists to offer one solution each. I will then pass them on to our economic managers. If they didn’t act on them, at least we would have done our part. So, as economists, we don’t have a solution to the extinguishing cedi? What did we go to school for? We must be ashamed of ourselves.

“How much more cedi depreciation can we tolerate? Why are we all sitting down while our currency is being extinguished? The cedi depreciation should be embarrassing to all economists. We seem to have failed Ghanaians. We need a national dialogue to save the cedi. It seems it has been completely abandoned to find its own level.”

The cedi is going for GH¢16.40 to one American greenback at the Forex Bureau or the retail market.

The local currency lost a marginal value to the US dollar increasing its year-to-date loss to about 26%. This was due to the heightening of corporate demand and the recent Eurobond coupon payments. The Central Bank held a 7-day FX auction, accepting all the $51.4 million bids submitted on the day.

The auction failed to keep the local unit stable as the local unit shed 0.15% week-on-week against the US dollar to close the week’s trading at a mid-rate of GH¢16.38/$. It also depreciated by 0.24% and 0.70% week-on-week vs the pound and euro.