Gov’t Defends Measures to Halt Cedi Depreciation

The government has maintained that it has put in place robust measures to halt the free fall of the cedi in the coming weeks.

According to Dr. Gideon Boako, Spokesperson for the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, efforts to reduce inflation and increase the availability of foreign reserves, point to a foreseeable halt in the depreciation of the cedi against major currencies like the dollar.

The rate of the cedi’s depreciation over the year has been a tussle between the government and the major opposition party, the National Democratic Congress. Speaking on the Point of View on Citi TV, Dr. Boako stressed that the situation would be reversed soon.

“Because of the strong fundamentals that we have built which are serving as shock absorbers, when the shock comes; either it is spillover from global economy or indigenous shock, we have built stronger fundamentals, that will anchor the currency and therefore the magnitude of depreciation,” he said.

Minority critiques weak economic fundamentals

Also speaking on the same program however, a member of Parliament’s Finance Committee and MP for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo cast doubts over the government’s ability to sustain the cedi’s strength.

“If the economy is doing so well and you have a bigger base, let’s look at your revenue that you (NPP) generated from that base in the first quarter of the year. When you inherited the economy in 2017 that you said it was worse, the worse economy delivered tax revenue, domestic revenue in the first quarter of 1.6 billion in January, 2.9 billion in February and 4.4 billion in March,” he said.

Cedi depreciation to keep fuel prices high 

The Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Ben Boakye also told Citi Business News that petroleum prices at the pumps will not experience any significant drop in the coming weeks, even though crude oil price continues to drop on the international market.

According to him, a continuous depreciation of the cedi against the dollar will leave prices at the pumps unchanged.

Former National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member Parliament for North Dayi, George Loh, also commented that Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s response to former President John Mahama’s critic of the depreciating cedi is “inappropriate.”