Charles Kusi Appiah, Head of the Business and Economic Bureau of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), has revealed a growing sense of panic among traders holding on to foreign currency as the cedi continues to strengthen.
According to him, many traders are now calling him directly to ask what to do with their dollar holdings.
“Someone called me today asking, ‘What am I supposed to do? I’m holding forex. Are we going to see a downtrend of forex?’” he disclosed on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, May 8.
The GUTA official says the fear is real—and for good reason. The cedi is gaining value, and traders who once saw the dollar as a lifeline are now losing money by holding it.
“The trajectory shows that the cedi is day in and day out gaining strength. So it doesn’t make economic sense for you to hold on to something you are losing every day,” Charles Appiah warned.
He advised that those who have no urgent need for foreign currency should liquidate and consider safer alternatives.
“If you think you don’t have anything to do with that forex, liquidate. There are other investment options, probably the gold coin that you can invest in, so that you don’t lose totally.”
Charles Appiah explained that during volatile economic periods, traders naturally turned to forex as a hedge.
But the current market dynamics, he said, are completely different.
“The opposite has occurred. Now, the confidence has been that the local currency is strong enough to be the store of value, so I don’t need to hold forex.”
He attributed the cedi’s recent strength partly to government initiatives like the Gold-for-Oil and Gold-for-Reserves programs.
“With the introduction of the GoldBod, where most international transactions use gold to do the transaction, the demand for forex has reduced. Therefore, there’s no need for one to hold forex for any transaction.”
According to Charles Appiah, even among GUTA members, there is a clear shift.
“Yes, the reason is that now the demand for forex has reduced when it comes to international trade. And the cedi is appreciating against the forex. Why do you then hold on to forex when you are losing value?”
He stressed that forex hoarding used to be a strategy to protect capital when the cedi depreciated, but that logic no longer applies.
“When we look at the dynamics within the forex and the cedi market, anytime forex outperforms cedis, our working capital gets depleted.
“So people would say, let me make sure I put some limit on my losses. But when the dynamics have changed… the demand for forex reduces, and that is accounting for the downward [trend] of forex in our market.”
Charles Kusi Appiah wants traders to reassess saying; “Dump the dollar if it’s no longer working for you.”
Source: Abubakar Ibrahim
