Ghana’s Economic Illusion: The 22 Billion Cedi Question
By Dr. Ato Kwamena Danso · 29 August 2026 · Politics
I write to you today with a brief account of the latest happenings in our economic landscape, a landscape that increasingly resembles a grand theatre where illusion often outshines reality.
Our leaders continue to boast of a stable cedi, yet this stability is not the product of natural market forces. Instead, it is held together by heavy withdrawals from our national reserves and significant reliance on the domestic gold purchase program. Foreign exchange is being pumped into the banks not to strengthen local production, but to make imported goods cheaper and more attractive. In effect, Ghana is burning through its gold so that foreign oil, foreign consumer goods, and even synthetic wigs can land on our shores at bargain prices.
This approach has created what I call the Importation Appreciation Scheme. The beneficiaries are importers, while the casualties are our farmers. Imported rice now sells cheaper than the grains grown in our own soil. Our rice farmers sit beside unsold stock, wondering whether next season’s planting is worth the effort. In trying to beautify the currency, we are exporting Ghanaian jobs and importing someone else’s harvest.
And now, Osagyefo, the idea of a twenty four hour economy has been transformed into a twenty four hour market. The shift has been so abrupt that even chief asked whether anyone would truly go out at midnight to buy koobi. If Kantamanto, the beating heart of urban commerce, cannot stay open past eight in the evening, how is a market in Gambaga expected to operate around the clock? Are we to imagine midnight shoppers roaming the stalls in search of smoked fish and second hand clothing under the moonlight?
To add to the confusion, Goosie Tano has had to clarify publicly that his office is being used as a pawn in this narrative and that he has had no involvement in the creation of these supposed twenty four hour markets. When those allegedly connected to a policy begin distancing themselves, it suggests the idea may be more political performance than practical planning.
Meanwhile, officials continue to celebrate short term exchange rate improvements while quietly ignoring a massive twenty two billion cedi loss that future generations will be forced to bear. It is becoming increasingly clear that our institutions, especially Parliament and the judiciary, must rise above partisan loyalty and uphold constitutional fairness and accountability.
Until our policies begin to favor the hands that till our fields over the ships that dock at our ports, I remain your loyal citizen, watching the market with a blend of satire and sorrow.
So long,
Ato KD