IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/29502.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Lessons from the foreign exchange market reforms in Ghana: 1983-2006

Author

Listed:
  • Sanusi, Aliyu Rafindadi

Abstract

This paper critically examines the trade and exchange reforms that paved way for the implementation of the current flexible, market-based exchange rate regime in Ghana. Using descriptive method, the paper argues that Ghana has succeeded in unifying its exchange rates without the inflationary consequences, as Pinto (1988, 1990) predicts, partly because of the strategy used. The strategy involved a gradual, rather than overnight, exit from the rigidly fixed exchange rate regime. It therefore enabled the development of a relatively more liquid and deeper foreign exchange market as well as the development of monetary authorities’ capacity to monitor and supervise the operations of the market. In addition, the IMF/World Bank’s support with foreign exchange (loans and aid) enabled an orderly and gradual exit to a flexible regime in Ghana. The paper then examines the macroeconomic response to the reforms by analysing the trends in some major economic aggregates during the reform process. One major policy lesson from the Ghanaian exchange rate reforms is that unless there is a reliable source of foreign exchange, liberalising trade could cause policy reversals by causing substantial and sudden exchange rate depreciations that are politically risky.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanusi, Aliyu Rafindadi, 2010. "Lessons from the foreign exchange market reforms in Ghana: 1983-2006," MPRA Paper 29502, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:29502
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/29502/1/MPRA_paper_29502.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mosley, Paul, 1996. "The Failure of Aid and Adjustment Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa: Counter-Examples and Policy Proposals," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 5(3), pages 406-443, October.
    2. Cletus K. Dordunoo, 1994. "The foreign exchange market and the Dutch auction system in Ghana," Working Papers 24, African Economic Research Consortium, Research Department.
    3. Dordunoo, C.K., 1994. "The Foreing Exchange MArket and the Dutch Auction System in Ghana," Papers 24, African Economic Research Consortium.
    4. Pinto, Brian, 1988. "Black markets for foreign exchange, real exchange rates, and inflation : overnight versus gradual reform in sub-Saharan Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 84, The World Bank.
    5. Pinto, Brian, 1991. "Black markets for foreign exchange, real exchange rates and inflation," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1-2), pages 121-135, February.
    6. Sowa, Nii Kwaku, 1994. "Fiscal deficits, output growth and inflation targets in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(8), pages 1105-1117, August.
    7. Mrs. Gilda C Fernandez & Mr. Cem Karacadag & Rupa Duttagupta, 2004. "From Fixed to Float: Operational Aspects of Moving towards Exchange Rate Flexibility," IMF Working Papers 2004/126, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Minh Tam Bui, 2018. "Causality in Vietnam’s Parallel Exchange Rate System during 2005–2011: Policy Implications for Macroeconomic Stability," Economies, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Marc Hofstetter & Jose Ignacio Lopez & Miguel Urrutia, 2018. "Limits to Foreign Exchange Net Open Positions and Capital Requirements in Emerging Economies," Documentos CEDE 15995, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    3. Flood, Robert & Perraudin, William & Vitale, Paolo, 1998. "Reserve and exchange rate cycles," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 31-59, October.
    4. Donyina-Ameyaw, Samuel, 2004. "A Small Macroeconmetric Model Of Trade And Inflation In Ghana," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 696, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    5. Onour, Ibrahim A, 2000. "Unification of Dual Foreign Exchange Markets," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 171-184.
    6. Ahmet Atil Asici & Nadezhda Ivanova & Charles Wyplosz, 2008. "How to exit from fixed exchange rate regimes?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(3), pages 219-246.
    7. Hassan, Rashid M., 1989. "A temporary general equilibrium model with endogenous money for economic policy analysis in Sudan," ISU General Staff Papers 1989010108000010129, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    8. Huizinga, H.P., 1996. "The Taxation Implicit in Two-Tiered Exchange Rate Systems," Other publications TiSEM e01fa769-96e8-4c5e-b9b5-a, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. Barry Eichengreen, 2009. "From the Asian crisis to the global credit crisis: reforming the international financial architecture redux," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-22, June.
    10. Bersch, Julia & Klüh, Ulrich H., 2007. "When countries do not do what they say: Systematic discrepancies between exchange rate regime announcements and de facto policies," Discussion Papers in Economics 2072, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    11. Gwang-Ju Rhee & Eun Mo Lee, 2005. "Foreign exchange intervention and foreign exchange market development in Korea," BIS Papers chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Foreign exchange market intervention in emerging markets: motives, techniques and implications, volume 24, pages 196-208, Bank for International Settlements.
    12. Ge Gao & Alex Nikolsko‐Rzhevskyy & Oleksandr Talavera, 2023. "Can central banks be heard over the sound of gunfire?," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 46(S1), pages 183-203, December.
    13. Ignacio Lozano, 2009. "Budget Deficit, Money Growth and Inflation: Evidence from the Colombian case," Money Affairs, CEMLA, vol. 0(1), pages 65-95, January-J.
    14. Cem Payaslioglu, 2009. "A tail index tour across foreign exchange rate regimes in Turkey," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(3), pages 381-397.
    15. Azam, Jean-Paul & Laffont, Jean-Jacques, 2003. "Contracting for aid," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 25-58, February.
    16. Yaya Keho, 2016. "Budget deficits, money supply and price level in West Africa," Journal of Economic and Financial Studies (JEFS), LAR Center Press, vol. 4(5), pages 1-8, October.
    17. Jorge Canales-Kriljenko & Turgut Kisinbay & Rodolfo Maino & Eric Parrado, 2006. "Setting the Operational Framework for Producing Inflation Forecasts," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 362, Central Bank of Chile.
    18. Goldberg, Linda S. & Karimov, Il'dar, 1997. "Black markets for currency, hoarding activity and policy reforms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3-4), pages 349-369, May.
    19. Teshale D. BEDADA & Wondaferahu M. DEMISSIE & Endeg T. WOLDE, 2020. "Determinants of Inflationary Experience in Ethiopia," Journal of Economics and Financial Analysis, Tripal Publishing House, vol. 4(1), pages 15-54.
    20. Savvides, Andreas, 1998. "Inflation and monetary policy in selected West and Central African countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 809-827, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic Reform; Trade Reforms; Parallel Market; Exchange Rates Unification; Ghana;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:29502. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.