Churches contributing to Cedi depreciation – Gov’t

Depreciation of Ghana’s local currency – Cedi – can partly be blamed on Churches operating in Ghana with headquarters based outside the country, a senior technical economic advisor to the vice president said.

Dr. Samuel Kwadwo Frimpong observed most of these foreign Churches convert their offertories and tithes into dollars before transferring them into forex accounts.

He said a careful analysis of the Cedi indicates that between Monday and Tuesday the currency depreciates marginally linking it to Churches changing the local currency to Dollars.

“Many churches in Ghana do not have their head offices here. So their collections, offerings and tithes are changed into dollars and transferred into forex accounts.

“Recently, we have studied and noticed that on Mondays and Tuesdays the rate at which the Cedi is changed into Dollars rises. As a Christian and economist I think it is also a contributory factor,” Dr. Frimpong told Odame Agyare – a Freelance Journalist on a yet-to-be premiered show – “On Point show”.

He was, however, optimistic measures rolled out to strengthen the Cedi against the Dollar will yield positive results.

Ghana’s local currency recently hit an all-time low recording a rate of GHS5.86 to a $1.

However, the local currency which was described by Bloomberg as the weakest currency in Africa started picking up after the sale of the $3bn Eurobond by the government

Ghana’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta on Thursday revealed in Parliament that the government will constitute a bi-partisan committee to probe the recent depreciation of the Cedi and suggest measures to curb it.

Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh