Thank you Mr. Conteh for the clarification. I am however still sceptical about your rvised rates of the Dollar against the Dalasi for now and 1994. I have tried to get the official exchange rate from the central bank for 1994 but could not. I however managed to speak to a senior official of the bank about the rate of the Dollar in 1994 and he is convinced that it was in the region of D12.00 to D13.00. He has promised to find out for me these days.

If you consider the fact that the exchange rate of the Dollar compared to the Pound sterling, over the past 10 or so years has been in the region of $1.45 to $1.60 ($1.00 being approximately 66% of a pound), then one can assume that the value of the Dollar in Dalasis and the value of the Pound in Dalasis would not deviate a lot from the 66% ratio. Going by this logic, if the Dollar was worth D9.75 as you assert, then the pound should have been approximately D14.77. On the other hand if the pound was worth about D17.00 in 1994, then the Dollar rate could be assumed to have been about D11.22. Considering the above, would you say that the pound was more likely to be worth under D15.00 or around D17.00?

Finally, it is important not to look at the depreciation of the Dalasi over the years in isolation from other currencies particularly those of sub-Saharan Africa. If one compares the performance of other currencies such as the CFA, South African Rand, Ghanaean Cedi, Nigerian Nira, etc, one cannot help but appreciate how the Dalasi has fared against the Dollar. Apart from that, it is also important to factor in other indicators to have a clearer picture of how the Dalasi and Gambian economy has been performing generally.

I admit that we are going through hard times; but it is equally important to note that important steps are being taken to alleviate this. I know that some people would not want to hear this again but some of the policies being implemented would go a long way in helping us come out of our this sorry state. Already significant improvements in infrastrutures, energy, education, health, agriculture, communications, fisheries, tourism etc are being made and it is just a matter of time and we will start seeing some good results. Attitudinal change is also taking place albeit slowly and all these would further help us in our quest to move forward. Let's just keep hope alive.

You may perhaps be interested to visit the worldbank web page at http://www.worldbank.org/data/countrydata/countrydata.html 

Have a good day, Gassa.