BoG to infuse $800m into reserves efforts to stabilise cedi

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has disclosed that it will add a minimum of $800 million to the country’s reserves this month to stabilise the cedi against major international currencies, especially the dollar.

The Head of Financial Markets at the central bank, Mr Steven Opata, revealed that the accumulation of more dollars would help increase the net international reserve (NIR) to around $4 billion, enough to provide confidence in the system and help stabilise the free fall of the local currency.

Since January this year, data from the central bank show that the cedi has lost some 3.6 per cent of its value to the US dollar as the international investor community sold some of their investments in local securities and moved their funds overseas, partly causing the cedi to slide.

That caused some apprehension among the business community, prompting various private sector associations to urge the central bank to find a solution to the depreciation to help abate the impact on their operations.

In an interview on how the BoG was addressing the turbulence in the currency market, Mr Opata said one of the strategies it was adopting “is rebuilding reserves to face more systemic shocks that may come”.

“I am very optimistic that it will not be long before we see stability and some recovery in the cedi,” he said.