Over 20 percent of shops in Abbosey Okai have been closed down due to the recent high exchange rate and economic doldrums in the country.
The Chairman of Abbosey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association, Siaw Ampadu, has said that the shops are closed down due to the challenges facing either the national Cedi or the economy.
Mr. Siaw Ampadu, who was speaking to Onua TV in an interview on Tuesday, March 22, indicated that the abysmal performance of the Cedi is compelling traders to go out of business.
He has maintained that unless effective fiscal interventions are employed by the government to get the economy out of the doldrums and create the atmosphere for entrepreneurs, the situation would remain dire.
He has attributed the rate at which the Cedi is relentlessly losing its value against major international currencies to the fact that unauthorized dealers are allowed to illicitly operate and control the forex bureaux sector.
He is livid that there is no centralized body governing the currency trading market; instead, non-nationals are allowed to operate in the foreign exchange and money transfer business.
Mr. Siaw Ampadu has thus challenged the government to review the Forex Bureau policy in order to allow the Central Bank to supervise and streamline the sector to enable them address the emerging fiscal challenges.
“The government can pump billions of Cedis to stabilize the Cedi in cushioning traders but if the foreign exchange and money transfer business isn’t regulated, the situation in the financial sector would remain the same.
“In all the countries that I have travelled to, it is only the banks that are allowed to conduct foreign exchange and money transfer business, so my advice to the government is that they should let the banks supervise the Forex Bureau otherwise the Cedis will continue to dwindle,” he reiterated.
Mr. Siaw Ampadu, however, commended the government for initially abolishing some taxes and reducing others to support traders and private business owners.
He maintained that if it hadn’t been this move by the government, the country’s economic crisis would have been worse or deteriorated post the COVID-19 pandemic.