US based Associate Professor of Finance, Williams Peprah, has expressed concern about the sudden drastic fall in Treasury bills rates, saying it is not back by current economic conditions.
According to him, investors may turn to the US dollar and other major foreign currencies for better returns.
Speaking in an interview with Joy Business, Professor Peprah said government must tread cautiously with the approach of forcing interest rates down far below the current inflation.
“In reality, because inflation rates is 53.6% in Ghana, it is normally anticipated that the Treasury bill should compensate every investor by ensuring that their purchasing power are protected”.
The impact of this drastic reduction in treasury bills rates is going to see investors very soon move away from investing in Treasury bills. And they will look at other investments and foreign investment currencies”.
He warned any shift in investments towards foreign currencies by investors will cause the depreciation of the cedi.
“We should expect that the cedi should depreciate more. There will be more pressure on other foreign currencies [dollar, pound] demand in the country because that is the only way that investors will be able to control or maintain their purchasing power.