Akufo-Addo to service providers: Reduce your prices

President Akufo-Addo has charged service providers such as manufactures, traders and transport operators in Ghana to reduce their prices to reflect the appreciating cedi.

Prices of goods and services did go up rapidly when the cedi was depreciating in record levels, according to President Akufo-Addo, however, due to measures being implemented by the government, the cedi has seen record levels of appreciation over the weeks.

President Akufo-Addo was speaking at the congregation of the Ga Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) at the Independence Square (Black Star Square) to commemorate their centenary celebration on Sunday (18 December).

“The theme for this celebration, “grateful for our heritage, forging ahead in unity and faith” recalls for me, the difficult times in which we find ourselves as Ghanaians and the reason why we should hold on firmly to our faith as Christians and why we should never stop believing in the Power and in the Grace of Almighty God.

“You will agree with me that the last three years, 2020, 2021, and 2022, has proven to be very challenging years for Ghana, as they have been for virtually all countries,” President Akufo-Addo said.

Keeping hope alive

Before making his call to service providers, President Akufo-Addo noted that “for the avoidance of doubt, let us remember that every country on earth is going through difficult times. Indeed, we have been confronted with spiraling freight charges, high fuel cost, high food prices and steep inflation spikes”.

The depreciation of the cedi according to the President “in the last few days in November, reached record lows and the jury was out on my government. In the height of our challenges, there were some who doubted the capabilities and resolve of my government and I to return our nation back unto the path of progress and prosperity and lift us out of our current problems”.

“In those dark moments, my fellow Ghanaians and member of this congregation, I could only recount the words of St. Matthew 19:26 which says, “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, with men, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible”.

“With appropriate policy, determination and hard work on our part, things are beginning to turn around. What seemed impossible yesterday, is now becoming possible” President Akufo-Addo said.

“We are definitely not yet out of the woods, however today, the cedi is rapidly in appreciation against the US dollar and all major currencies, making up for its loses and the prices of petroleum products are reducing at the pump” he added.

Deliberate policies

Emphasizing on the “strengthening of the cedi” President Akufo-Addo indicated that it “has not happened by chance but through the implementation of deliberate policies by government in collaboration with the Bank of Ghana”.

These deliberate policies of government the President said “include cedi liquidity tightening measures resulting in the off-loading of forex as a store of value by speculators, the improvement of forex inflows from remittances and the mining sector and the reaching of the Staff Level Agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for three billion United States dollars’ package”.

“All these have combined to bring the cedi to an improved position and I can assure you that government will continue to work hard to maintain and sustain the gains made.

“Indeed, in the weeks ahead, the back of Ghana will continue with the purchases of forex from the mining and oil sectors to enhance liquidity supply to the market, continue with the single unified forex forward auction and some modest targeted bilateral support to critical imports and the implementation of the gold for oil swap transaction which will significantly remove forex pressures on the cedi” Akufo-Addo noted.

Direct appeal

To this end, President Akufo-Addo, pointed out that “it is in view of this that I add my voice to those of GUTA, GRTCC and others, to appeal to manufactures, traders, and transport operators, who at the height of the cedi’s recent depreciation, increased prices of goods and services, to reduce their prices now that the cedi is regaining much of its strength.

“I believe this is not only a fair request, but also, a just one and I urge all of you to join me in this clarion call so at the very least, we can have a more pleasant Christmas” President Akufo-Addo said.

Further relief

In his address to the congregation, which had in attendance the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, the President assured the Church and by extension, Ghanaians, that his “government is determined to bring even further relief” to the citizenry and “return the economy to the high rates of growth that characterized” the country’s “development in the three year preceding the COVID outbreak in 2020” which made the economy “one of the fastest growing in the world at the time”.

“We can only do so if we forge ahead in unity and in faith and have the believe that by the Grace of Almighty God, the fortunes of Ghana under the presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, will be restored. I will thus appeal to you to bear with government in this difficult period as we work to chat a path out of the storm” Akufo- Addo stated.

“I know times are hard, which is affecting all of us, but this government will not shirk its responsibility to the people of Ghana to make the hard decisions which hard times demand which may be painful just like injections, but we have to take them if we are to be well again and get our economy back in a good place. The policies and programmes we are implementing, are meant to address the challenges and I am sure they will” he added.

National Cathedral

Thanking the Presbyterian Church of Ghana for the support it continues to give for the construction of the National Cathedral, President Akufo-Addo stated that, upon completion, the National Cathedral will serve not only as the country’s collective thanksgiving “to the Almighty for the blessings He has bestowed on our nation, sparing us the ravages of civil war that have bedevilled the histories of virtually all our neighbours, and the outbreak of deadly mass epidemics, but also as a rallying point for the entire Christian community of Ghana, which represents seventy plus percent (70+%) of the population.”

The President, therefore, asked the Ga Presbytery, and, indeed, all Christians, to continue to pray for Ghana’s peace and unity, so the nation can move forward in unity.

“I need the support of every Ghanaian, together with the prayers of the Church, to help me and my government carry out our mandate successfully.

“Pray for me so that Almighty God will continue to give me wisdom, strength, courage and compassion to enable me execute my duties as a good leader.

“With Him, all things are possible, as the Battle is the Lord’s!! For this too shall pass!!”, President Akufo-Addo said.

Wilberforce Asare

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