GANTA, Nimba – There are different exchange rates being offered in Nimba’s largest commercial city following an unprecedented drop in the value of the United States dollar against the Liberian dollar.

The different exchange rates being offered include, 90 to 1; 128 to 1; 100 to 1 and 110 to 1.

Money Changers in the street of Ganta are not publicly displaying their various exchange rates as they usually do, and exchange rates have ranged from L$90 for a U.S. dollar to L$128. Only a few stores and provision shops are displaying the daily exchange rate.

Citizens in Ganta woke up to the surprising news of the decline in the exchange rate in Monrovia the morning of January 30, after President George Weah’s first State of the Nation address.

Speaking to reporters in Ganta, the president of the Money Changers Association in Ganta, Napoleon Dean, said his members would not give in to the news of the reduction in the exchange rate “that has no backing or support.” The rate change was artificial, he said, as it was not supported by an increase in local production of goods for export.

“We don’t have anything we are exporting from Liberia,” Dean added. “It will be hard to control the rate in Liberia here—We need to be exporting things from Liberia to support the rate.”

He said that unless that was put into perspective, the unprecedented drop in the exchange rate on January 30 would not have any impact and his organization would abide by the “unreliable” decrease in the exchange rate.

“For us, we are going to continue changing at the same rate we have. We are not going to go by any other rate—we will remain with our current rate.” He added.

Prior to the drop in the exchange rate, the Liberian dollar stood at L$132.3 to the U.S. dollar in Ganta.  Even as rates in Monrovia have stabilized, the exchange rate continues to fluctuate in Ganta, with some money exchangers still valuing the U.S. dollar at L$100.

Featured photo by Arrington Ballah