GUTA to close shops on August 29 to demonstrate against rapid cedi depreciation

Members of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), say they will close down all their shops on Monday, August 29, to demonstrate against the persistent depreciation of the Ghana Cedi.

According to them, the rapid fall of the Cedi is having a negative impact on their businesses, hence their decision to stage the protest.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, the President of the Association, Dr Joseph Obeng stressed that, the worsening state of the Cedi has eroded the gains of businesses after the COVID-19 pandemic and the shocks from the Russia-Ukraine war.

He therefore called on government to prioritise the trading community as GUTA prepares to embark on its August 29 protest.

“By the dictates of the trading community, we declare closure of shops in Accra, on Monday, 29th August, 2022, to officially demonstrate these concerns to government”, Dr Obeng said, amidst cheers from other aggrieved members.

The planned protest by GUTA comes in the wake of a recently acute fall in the Cedi, after it was pegged at 10 Cedis to the US dollar.

The development, which came to the fore on Friday, August 19, 2022, was met with a lot of widespread sentiments from the populace.

According to some, the decline in the county’s currency will only deepen the the heightened levels of hardship which have already plagued Ghanaians.

GUTA also shares in this sentiments; with the view that if government does not roll out measures to immediately address the fast depreciating Cedi, the situation may become worse.

Government has however, already assured Ghanaians of its willingness to address the prevailing crisis and put the economy on a better footing.

Meanwhile, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University has accused the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, of playing blame games with Ghana’s economic problems.

Steven Hanke said he has noticed that the Veep likes to shift responsibility regarding the country’s economic woes.

In a tweet on Monday, he added that based on his assessment of Ghana’s inflation, the country’s economic challenges are likely to take a further decline.

“When it comes to the source of Ghana’s economic problems, VP Bawumia plays the BLAME GAME. You know, it wasn’t me, it was the guy behind the tree.

“Today, I measured GHA’s inflation at 80%/yr. Without a currency board, GHA is going down the tubes”, he wrote.

Source: Paa Kwesi Schandorf