Audio Attachment:Listen to Fifi Kwetey |
A Deputy Finance Minister has hit back at claims by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that the Mills-led NDC administration is incompetent in the management of the economy and has cautioned Ghanaians to be wary of the �shallow-minded NPP economists� aspiring to govern the country.
Fifi Kwetey indicted the NPP for intentionally causing fear and panic among investors by consistently accusing the government of failing to manage the fall of the cedi and the economy.
The cedi has since January this year, suffered a free fall against all the major trading currencies. It started the year around GHS 1.1p but is currently pegged at GHS1.90p. The NPP therefore sees this as evidence in their assertion that government�s inability to manage the depreciation of the cedi is because it is bereft of ideas.
On Wednesday, the NPP�s Economic Committee faulted government for mismanaging the economy with a devalued cedi as the result. At a press conference held in Accra, Chairman of the committee, Mr. Yaw Osafo Maafo stated that �the government appears to be totally lost as to how to resolve this problem, while prices of goods and services keep rising by the day! This makes untenable the reported single digit inflation as there seems to be a disjoint between cost of goods and the inflation rate.�
According to him, the spiraling rise in the cost of living, coupled with the daily rise in the prices of goods and services on the market, is as a �result of the NDC government's inability to keep the currency stable.�
But the Deputy Finance Minister, in a sharp riposte, described the press conference �as a piece of Bawumia economics�. The deputy minister indicated that �Bawumia economics� stood for �very shallow economics�.
He slammed Mr. Osafo Marfo for his pronouncements and urged him to factor in the �irresponsible genocidal comments� by his flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo which has had an adverse effect on the economy. He called on him to order and counsel Nana Addo to refrain from making genocidal comments that only crash investor confidence in the economy
Speaking in an interview on Radio Gold, the deputy finance minister derided members of the NPP Economic Committee accusing them of being hollow with their analyses.
�I mean people who are supposed to be seasoned economists�you are writing a statement of this nature and you haven�t bothered to check what clearly has happened to the cedi over the last three weeks. You should have noticed that as a result of the new polices we have put in place, this actually is the case that we are now starting to have foreign capital flowing into the country as seen in the three year bond massively being oversubscribed�Are these people clearly on top of issues? �that is why I am disappointed that people like Osafo Marfo should be part of this level of hollowness. I mean what is wrong with NPP? And this people are aspiring to take over Ghana and want to mange an economy and you can�t even get basic facts right? This is laziness!� he asserted.
The NDC Parliamentary candidate for Ketu South added that it will not come to him as a surprise if the NPP, out of desperation will compel some of their businessmen to �forcibly mount pressure on the cedi�.
�I actually believe that the NPP is actively doing something about the depreciation of the cedi, possibly coaching people who want to continue with some of this stipulating activities�possibly urging their own traders to try all kinds of means of putting pressure on the cedi,� he accused.
Whiles admitting that government is faced with some challenges in halting the free-fall of the cedi against some major currencies, Fifi Kwetey quickly added that the local currency had started appreciating in value as a result of the prudent and pragmatic measures put in place by the government through the Bank of Ghana.
Source: Chris Joe Quaicoe/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |