Once you print currency, prices will go up – UCC lecturer, Seyram Kawor
A Senior Finance Lecturer at the University of Cape Coast(UCC) Business School, Seyram Kawor is advising the Bank of Ghana to reduce the rate at which it is printing money to support government expenditure.
He argued that the current inflationary figures being recorded by the Ghana Statistical Service could be partly attributed to the printing of currency by the Bank of Ghana.
Describing the move as counterproductive, Mr. Kwaor stated that the decision goes against all efforts made to drive Ghana’s payment ecosystem into a digital environment
“We want to go cashlite society where people will not be using cash. Then all of sudden you’ve gone ahead to print new denominations of ₵100 and ₵200. Automatically certain things that may be bought at ₵95 may go up to ₵100. It is natural for these things to happen,” he said.
Mr. Kawor stated that it basic knowledge in economics that once money supply increases through printing, there is always a knock on effect on prices.
He pointed out that the situation is made serious when the supply of money is not triggered by production in the economy.
“Once you print currency, prices will go up”, he said, adding that “it’s a basic economic issue”.
“Once currencies are printed, we have prices going up. We have no justification for printing larger denomination. That is the price that we are paying for now,” he stressed.
source: myjoyonline.com
