ADVERTISEMENT

Bawumia says 'cedi depreciation temporary': Adviser says it won't 'last for long'

He attributed the cedi depreciation to some turbulence in the market which culminated from the spillovers in the global economy.

Bawumia's economic adviser, Dr Gideon Boako, attributed cedi depreciation to some turbulence in the market which culminated from the spillovers in the global economy.

He further noted that the local currencies of some African economies like Kenya and South Africa have also experienced same shocks.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Even though there was a slight uptick in the value of the dollar relative to the cedi, this is something that is transient. It is not going to last for long. That is why we have seen the decline. And so the rate today is around 4.5 to 4.6. In relative terms, the cedi has been very strong,” Dr Boako told Accra-based Citi FM.

According to him, the cedi has performed well in the first year of president Nana Akufo-Addo than it did under former Presidents Rawlings, Kufuor, Mills and Mahama.

He said: "If you compare the performance of the local currency as against the dollar for the first year of every new president, you can see that but for the performance of the regime of former President Kufuor, Nana Akufo-Addo stood tall. And in fact, if you really want to compare the first year of every president, President Akufo Addo’s has done the best.”“Last year, which is the first year of the president, we had a depreciation of 4.9 percent. The next that performed so well was President Kufuor in 2001. The depreciation was 5 percent.“In fact, if you take that of President Mahama, his first year in 2013, the cedi depreciated by 14.5 percent. That of President Rawlings in 1993 was 35 percent. If you go to 1997, it went to 22.6 percent. In the same way, if you come to President Mills,’ it hovered around 20 percent. It was only in the first year of term of Presidents Kufuor and Akufo-Addo that that cedi depreciated by a margin of less than 6 percent.”

“The fundamentals of the economy are solid. Everyone who follows the statistics of Ghana’s economy very well will attest to this fact,” he highlighted.

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh

ADVERTISEMENT