Weak cedi is a tourist attraction, it’s not good having strong currency – Assibey-Yeboah

The weakness of the Cedi attracts more tourists to Ghana, the Chairman of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, has said, and, therefore, argued that it is not a good thing for the country to have a strong currency since it would have a negative impact on the number of tourists that come to Ghana.

According to the MP for New Juaben South, “The currency cannot get stronger and stronger forever – that’s why you have the central bank – at a certain point, the Bank of Ghana has to intervene so that the currency does not become so strong”.

He asserted: “It is not a good thing to have a strong currency”, explaining: “Do you know why tourists come here? When your currency is weak, it’s a fair place. You, when you are going on vacation, you’ll not go to a country that has a very strong currency because you need to exchange a lot; if you are going to the UK, you need to exchange a lot of cedis to get the pounds to go there.

“Those who come for the ‘Year of Return’, all those people who come into the country, they come here because our currency is weak; when they bring their dollars and they exchange, they get a lot of money, they are able to spend, so, when your currency starts getting stronger, it even affects tourism, so, a strong currency in and of itself is not a good thing”, Dr Assibey-Yeboah insisted.

In his view, “A strong currency means that you have an optimum”, adding: “… That’s why I’m telling you that this budget we prepare, it is not done by propagandists saying whatever they want, these are the central bank, the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Ministry of Finance; they settle on a certain exchange rate; that’s why I’ve told you that we’ve programmed that the exchange rate for the year should average about 5.6; if your currency is getting stronger and stronger, it has implications for your budget, it’ll throw it off board”, he told Blessed Sogah on Class91.3FM’s State of the Nation aired on Wednesday, 26 February 2020.