THE WORKING WOMAN: Defining the Times, Defying the Norms

The management of the Ghanaian Cedi over the past three years has been one of the best in Ghana’s recent history, the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has indicated.

The Vice President’s statement, backed by data from the Bank of Ghana, comes in the wake of claims by the opposition NDC that the Akufo-Addo administration had failed to manage the cedi.

“The cedi exchange rate under the NPP (2017-2019) is twice as stable as it was under NDC (2013-2016). The average depreciation under NDC was 18%, compared to 8.7% under President Akufo-Addo” the Vice President stated in Kumasi on Tuesday, February 11, 2020.

Dr Bawumia, who was addressing the two-day Government Townhall and Results Fair, being held at the Great Hall, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, dismissed suggestions that the NDC were better managers of the economy, particularly the currency.

“Under the NDC our currency was depreciating at the speed of Usain Bolt! Under the NPP we have arrested the rapid depreciation of the cedi. But why does the NDC, in the face of such incontrovertible evidence, keep insisting they can do a better job of managing the cedi? Ladies and Gentlemen, it is like you take an exam with somebody and he scores 40% and you score 80% and he is trying to convince people that he knows the subject better than you.

“In fact, in the history of the Fourth Republic, Akufo-Addo has the best performance for any first term government since 1992. Period. All the worst performances happened under the NDC which holds the record for first, second and third worst performances in the Fourth Republic but they still want to challenge the best performer!”

Throwing more light on the performance of the cedi in recent years, Vice President Bawumia continued:

“At the end of 2008, the exchange rate of the cedi to the dollar was GHC1.18/US$. At the end of 8 years the nominal exchange rate almost quadrupled to GHC4.2/US$. But thus far under the NPP, the exchange rate has moved from 4.2/$ at the end of 2016 to 5.35/$ (Bank of Ghana as at today).  Indeed, for the NPP to match the almost four-fold Usain Bolt-like dash of the nominal level of the cedi exchange rate under the NDC, the cedi exchange rate will have to reach some GH15/US$!

“Thankfully this year, the cedi is performing quite well and is currently the best performing currency in the world against the US dollar (with an appreciation of 3.4% in January) thanks to the excellent management of the Bank of Ghana.”

Source: Daily Mail GH