A Deputy Finance
Minister, John Kumah, has debunked claims that the Ghana cedi is the weakest
currency in Africa.
According to him, such a claim is mere propaganda meant to undermine the
government’s fiscal measures in halting the free fall of the cedi against the
dollar.
He stated that the cedi is currently the third strongest currency in Africa;
however, he conceded that the rate of depreciation the cedi is experiencing
might be the worst on the continent.
Dr. Kumah speaking on Joy News noted that currencies across the world are
experiencing depreciation and thus, critics of the government’s fiscal policies
cannot blame the poor performance of the cedi on fiscal mismanagement.
According to him “And look, I’ve heard all the propaganda, they said Ghana cedi
is the worst in Africa and all kinds of things. Look, don’t believe those
propaganda. I just returned from Tunisia on a programme, and Tunisia has the second
strongest currency in Africa”.
“Ghana is third actually according to global ranking of currencies. I am
talking about the strength of currencies in Africa. The Libyan Dinar, followed
by Tunisian Dinar, and then the Ghana cedi is the third strongest currency in
Africa. But maybe they were talking about the rate of depreciation”.
“I just saw what is happening in Nigeria and they are equally complaining that
their Naira is not just four hundred and something to the dollar, but sometimes
it’s even 700 depending on where … sometimes they can’t even find the dollar.
So this is a global situation.”
He added, “So it is not just a Ghana situation, it is something that is
happening globally and people should not begin to think that it’s as a result
of some bad policy or whatever.”
He stated that the government has put in place some measures it believes would
stabilize the cedi against the dollar and shore up the economy.
“But the good news is that…like we announced government is intervening with
these foreign exchange auctions which occasionally Bank of Ghana does to
intervene in the market to bring calm and stability to the foreign exchange
front.
“And then we have also introduced this gold buying to shore up our reserves in
gold. And not just that we are also expecting the Cocoa syndicated loans by the
end of the month or early next month which will equally come in to shore up our
economy,” he said
Source: dailyguidenetwork.com