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The Independent Observer > News > Ghana shop owners pause strike over currency woes

Ghana shop owners pause strike over currency woes

Traders in Ghana’s capital, Accra, who’ve been striking over high business costs and economic hardship, have decided to put their industrial action on hold.

Ongoing talks aimed at resolving the dispute are being held by the government and the president of the Ga traditional council, Nii Tackie Teiko Tsuru II.

Members of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (Guta) say the authorities have promised to address their concerns.

The traders had shut their shops in Accra and Guta’s president is now advising members to adjust the prices of their goods in line with the rate of local currency depreciation.

The Ghanaian cedi is now 14 to US $1. It has lost 52% of its value against the US dollar since the beginning of the year and is listed as the world’s worst-performing currency.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta has urged Ghanaians not to panic and said that the fast depreciation of the cedi is due to the high demand for the US dollar to imports for Christmas