The New Patriotic Party has been able to arrest the falling cedi in its first hundred days in office says the Vice President of Ghana Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
He explains that the mechanisms put in place to shore up the cedi by his administration have helped to restore value in the cedi.
He made these statements when he addressed a gathering to mark one hundred days in office by the NPP.
Currently, the cedi is experiencing relative stability compared to major international trading currencies such as the dollar.
READ ALSO: Ghana opens forum on data collection for sustainable development
For the first two months of 2017, the local currency witnessed significant depreciation on the interbank foreign exchange market and across forex bureaus in the country.
The development persisted despite the Bank of Ghana’s 120 million dollars auction to support the supply of the dollar.
Dr. Bawumia further touted his government’s commitment to improving economic stability.
READ ALSO: Ghana set to eliminate import duties on raw materials
H e also says Ghana’s debt has been re-profiled. “We’ve been able to re-profile our debt, get more foreign exchange without increasing our debt stock. That is indeed a remarkable achievement.”
“Many people didn’t quite understand the transaction, they thought that we had gone to borrow US$2billion to add to Ghana’s debt, no, we are actually replacing more expensive debt with less expensive debt, elongating it and making it better for this country.”
He said the process has resulted in a “massive increase in Ghana’s foreign exchange reserves. From independence to the end of 2016, Ghana’s foreign reserve was some US$6billion.
READ ALSO: Veep pays unannounced visit to Procurement Authority
In less than 100 days, we have increased those reserves from $6billion to $8billion and with that you have a lot more confidence in the economy and you have seen a stability return to the cedi in value," Dr Bawumia said.
