President Jammeh Threatens Drastic Action By Today

This paper has learned from confirmed sources that there is a serious shortage of foreign exchange in The Gambia currently. According to our sources, the purported shortage in the supply of foreign currencies hit the country sometime last week, just about the same time when there was almost a glut in the supply of foreign exchange. The situation, believed to be a deliberate plot by some unscrupulous business people to reverse the current rise in the value of the Dalasi against major foreign currencies, has attracted the attention of the authorities.

Some economic analysts who spoke to this paper expressed the view that the shortage of major foreign currencies has the tendency of hampering the country’s economy as it could bring large-scale business activities to a standstill.

In the wake of the development, the business community and financial institutions are presently in the firing line.

While some accused businessmen of hoarding the forex, others accused the financial institutions of masterminding the situation in their bid to cripple the Dalasi, which is now appreciating at an astronomical pace.  

“Does this artificial scarcity have to do with the Dalsisi getting stronger and people trying to speculate or is it just that there is no foreign currency in the banking system?” asked a concerned citizen.  

To cross check these claims, this paper mounted a vigorous investigation, visiting a number of banks and foreign exchange bureaus including Standard Chartered Bank, Trust Bank, Arab Gambia Islam Bank, AIN FOREX Bureau and Gambia Electrical FOREX Bureau.

All these financial institutions that this reporter managed to visit informed categorically that they have no foreign exchange. In fact at Trust Bank, an official told him that now the bank has ceased buying or selling Forex until further notice and when asked why, the official refused to make further comments.

It would be recalled that over the weekend President Jammeh issued a warning to foreign exchange dealers that speculating in and hoarding foreign exchange would be met with drastic action by today Monday. “Businessmen are hiding the Dollar, saying that there is scarcity of Dollar which is not true. They are keeping the Dollar thinking that the Dalasi will depreciate and I am telling them that let them keep it in millions and see what we will do by Monday,” the president asserted in a statement he delivered after presiding over the swearing-in ceremony of the newly appointed Secretary of State for Works, Construction and Infrastructure.

He said that the Dollar could slump as low as D4, noting that government would not relent in efforts to stabilize foreign currencies, because “we don’t want the Dalasi to be too strong as it can cause difficulties in the re-export trade to businessmen.”