The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has described as second to none the performance of the Akufo-Addo-led government in the management of Ghana’s currency, the Cedi as against its major trading currencies, particularly the U.S dollar.
It follows a recent tweet by former President John Mahama in an attempt to ridicule the ruling government and Dr. Bawumia in what he (Mr. Mahama) described as a depreciating currency caused by weak economic fundamentals.
However, in a sharp response on his Facebook wall the Economist and former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Bawumia indicated that such uninformed comments by Mr. Mahama only expose his lack of understanding on key aspects of the economy.
“It has been brought to my attention that former President Mahama has recently been talking about exchange rate depreciation. The former President's comments once again, sadly demonstrate his lack of understanding on key aspects of our economy” - Dr. Bawumia observed.
The Vice President, in the post, took Mr. Mahama through some basic lessons on how to assess the performance of a government as far as the exchange rate market is concerned to help guide him in future assessments.
“I understand the difficulty of the former President in appreciating the currency depreciation debate. I would try to simplify the explanation for him” - Dr. Bawumia indicated.
Dr. Bawumia stated that “the data on the performance of the Cedi over the years shows that the Cedi is recording one of its best performances in the Fourth Republic under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. The depreciation of the cedi against the US dollar is one of the lowest in the first year of any government since 1993”.
Dr Bawumia supported his assertion with hard core facts and data from the Bank of Ghana in the form of infographics . The data shows that the lower depreciation (4.9%) of the Cedi against the dollar recorded under this government in 2017 is the lowest year-on-year depreciation recorded in the first year of any new president since 1992, beating the 35%, 5%, 15%, and 14.5% rates of depreciation recorded by Presidents Rawlings (1993), Kufuor (2001), Mills (2009), and Mahama (2013), respectively.
Touting the high records of the NPP over the NDC in terms of the management of the Cedi Dr. Bawumia further revealed that “an equally instructive fact to note is that the NPP has demonstrated to be by far better managers of the Cedi than the NDC. In the entire 8 years of President Kufuor’s (NPP) rule from 2001 to 2008, the price of the Cedi relative to the dollar moved from GHc0.7 to GHc1.2, representing a depreciation of 72%. However, in the 8 years rule of both Presidents Mills and Mahama (NDC) from 2009 to 2016 the Cedi depreciated by 247%, moving from GHc1.2 to GHc4.2. Such higher rate of depreciation in less than a decade is simply unacceptable and signifies high levels of incompetence”.
The Vice President was quick to add that the future holds significant prospects for the Cedi under the leadership of President Akufo-Addo. “Although it is early days, there is much optimism for a stronger currency under the leadership of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Converse to the first 18 months of many governments in which the Cedi depreciated by more than 10%, the first 18 months of this government has recorded a marginal depreciation of 7%” - he said.
Dr. Bawumia recounted that “the reason for our relatively strong exchange rate performance is that our economic fundamentals (which Mr. Mahama sought to question) under Nana Akufo -Addo are strong. Much stronger than the mess he left us. The deficit is lower, inflation is single digit, the debt to GDP ratio is declining, interest rates are declining, our foreign exchange reserves are healthy, business confidence is rising and economic growth is increasing”.
Dr. Bawumia therefore advised Mr. Mahama to take his time to read the facts and appreciate them before commenting.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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It's really difficult for me as a businessman who imports a lot of household items from Germany, Turkey and China to appreciate what The VP is saying. Is he aware of what is real on the ground? How can I trust you with my vote and you handle me this way? Secondly, have considered the huge increase in petroleum price? Yet here you are playing politics with rate regime analysis? Use my tax money anyhow and I'll surely see you 2020, fraudster!
Mr Vice President. Some of us are disappointed that you’re trying to make the arguement about percentage of depreciation over a period of time. This is never what you promised us. We thought it(cedi) would be around 4 cedis or even 3.5 cedis at this time. It is very very disappointing Sir. People are watching. They may not speak but they are watching. It may not end well for you and your President. You sit there and tickle yourselves and be laughing.
This Bawumia guy is full of himself and will never repent. He always tried his best to ruins insults yo anyone who critics the government. He is such an arrogant figure and doesn't deserved yo be a vice president of Ghana. He believe in himself and think he owes this country and no one has right to put the government on its goes. He is just a ***barred word*** vice president and I personally hate him with this kind of village altitudes. He behaves like a typical buuushman/village man who has gotten opportunity to be in a city. He is such an idioooot fooooooool!!!!!!
Mahama make you no dey talk economy ooh. This Bawumia man Kakai you ahh wey ei make you and and your Paa Kwesi look like street buffoons. So please wey you want talk make you na talk about your girl friend Akua Donkor
***barred word*** Vice Prez. U r still talking in this economic mess. u better shut ur mouth.
I have read through all the comments below, no one made reference to 3.7 to a dollar in 2017. You who claims you love reading is more ***barred word*** than those you claim don't read.
Just log on to xe.com compare the cedi-dollar trend. Select 20 years as the time window. You can clearly tell when ndc was in power and when npp was in power. This exchange rate graph tells our political history with an amazing precision.
Mr vice President pls go and explain this Cedi - dollar rated to the abossey okai spare part dealers
It's sad 😭 that GH is not too much of a serious country that's why politicians will argue about who is a better manager of our currency. That's why followers of ardent political followers of politicians don't even know the Cureency rate of country at any point in time. Simple google or a check at the bank of Ghana website will give U all the answers about the cedi rate at any point in time. It's sad that's someone commented here n said that the cedi rate at as at 6th January 2017 was 3.70 cedis to $1.00 really 😳😳😳. Eeeeiii some people too dey this world oooo. Yooo They say the average African don't like reading nor knowing the real facts about issues, may be it's true with this guy. Lol The fact is that, the cedi rate as at 6th Jan. 2017 was 4.2 cedi to $1.00. Please don't fight this figures, just read; just google or just from the bank of Ghana website wai. NPP; 7th Jan 2001 to 6th Jan2009 0.72 to 1.20. NDC 7th Jan 2009 to 6th Jan 2017 1.20 to 4.20. Please don't insult nor fight this figures just google or check from the bank of GHana wedsite . Please. Let's all try n learn so that at least the politicians can't confuse us with simple figures. It doesn't matter who u don't support or Support, like or don't like, figures and economical figures don't lie and the facts will always be the facts. Simple.
PeaceFm, keep putting up frivolous headlines when it is about Bawumia. The fact is the Cedi is depreciation. He compared 8 years of previous administration to one and half yeas and you headline it as schooling. PeaceFM m'ab)n. No wonder you keep making even editorial mistakes