Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has admitted that Ghana’s foreign exchange systems appear to be loose.

This he believes has contributed to the current economic challenges confronting the country.

He maintains that government and key stakeholders have to look at tightening the foreign exchange regime by reconsidering innovative ways of production.

Speaking at the Standard Chartered digital banking Innovation & Fintech Festival in Accra, the Vice President said government will present details of addressing this shortfall of the exchange rate in the coming days.

“It is very clear that our foreign exchange regime is quite loose, and that is why we are going to see how we can tighten our foreign exchange regime. In broad terms, you cannot address the current economic situation without addressing the fiscal and debt sustainability, production and foreign exchange regime.”

Dr. Bawumia underscored the importance of major policy changes in the wake of a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“Once those [negotiations with the IMF] are concluded, it will be clear that it will not be, and it should not be business as usual because we have to adjust to the new global and domestic realities,” the Vice President said.

For one, he said the nature of production needs to change because Ghana has more trade surpluses and current count deficits, “which means that a lot of the foreign exchange that we are earning from our trade doesn’t stay in Ghana.”

Vice President Bawumia also said Ghana would be working to reduce import dependency to address Ghana’s forex problems.

Ghana’s global-worst depreciating currency has been noted as one of the main causes of inflation amid the current economic crisis.

Vice President Bawumia said the President would address the nation in the near future, where the government’s plan “will be fleshed out in specifics.”

“More importantly, if we are going to address this, this economy must be digitalized,” the Vice President added.