Members of the Kumasi Importers Association in the Ashanti Region have lamented the decline in the value of the Ghana cedi against the US dollar and CFA francs.
In response to the dropping of the cedi, the Association has also hinted at a sit-down strike.
According to the Association, which includes the Kumasi Togo Agents Association, Clothes Sellers Association, T-shirt Sellers Association, Material Sellers Association, and Babies and Children Ware Association, among many others, its members’ businesses are imploding due to the cedi’s devaluation.
The Deputy Secretary for the Association, Nana Yaw Owusu Agyemang, speaking to Class FM’s Elisha Adarkwah, Monday, 24 October, explained that: “The inflation of the cedi to CFA ration, is affecting our business because when you look at two weeks ago, the rate of the CFA was GHS16.30 but as of last week, it was 18.40 so you can strike a difference of 2.10ps, so assuming you convert 1 million CFA, you’ll be paying a difference of GHS2100 but if you sit down and sell the goods too, your profit will not accumulate to GHS2100.”
The Deputy Secretary indicated that the Association will stop the importation of goods for two weeks in protest against the falling cedi.
“So it means you’re running at a loss and in business too we run for profit or we run a business to maintain our capital but at this moment we’re running at a loss, all our capitals are [going] into [the] ditch.
“So we have also decided that we’re taking two weeks strike, a sit-down strike. We’re sitting down for two weeks, we’re not importing any goods from any neighbouring countries using the CFA and the dollar because the inflation is killing us, it’s collapsing all our finances,” the Deputy Secretary of the Association stated.
