Business News of Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
2021-07-20
Traders have attributed the low patronage of livestock to the depreciation of cedi
Correspondence from Ashanti Region:
Butchers and cattle traders at the Kumasi Abattoir have blamed the government for the low patronage of their services during this year’s Eid-Al-Adha.
According to them, government needs to stabilize the cedi against the French CFA in order to effectively transact cattle business in neighboring countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, and so on.
Speaking to GhanaWeb, Chairman of the Kumasi Butchers Association, Chief Abdul Wahab Tikuma said cattle that were bought for less than Gh¢25,000 has now increased to ¢40,000.
“We were buying cattle for less than GH¢25,000 but now we buy it for GH¢40,000 because of the cedi rate to the CFA. When we buy at such price, definitely we will also sell our products at a high cost not to incur losses and that drives our customers away,” he said.
On his part, treasurer of the cattle dealers association, Alhaji Baba Ahmed said the association is worried about the government’s failure to fulfill promises it made with regards to cedi stabilization.
“The government promised to stabilize our currency against the foreign ones but for the past four years, the CFA has been appreciating against our cedi, making the cedi useless in the international market. We plead with the government to as a matter of urgency do something about the cedi depreciation to save our business”, he stressed.