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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Mahama keep punching Bawumiliar because the more you punch him the more he exposes himself to Ghanaians, that hey fellow citizens am a liar and have deceived you, am also a Dr of theory and not practical am a dr of fabricated figures and not factual figures. Hmmm, in any case, would figures put food on our tables? will it reduce import duties on spare parts or will it reduce fuel prices? or will it cancel 28 billion dollars borrowed by one and a half year? which he promise Ghanaians he was not going to borrow at the first place? Mr. Veep the end of your lies are due and nothing can save you and your government come 2020
Mahama nso p3 neho as3m
A COCKROACH BRAINS VICE PRESIDENT. IT'S HARD OOOO
What Bawumia knows is to give unnecessary lectures that do not translate into reality. We want practical economics. Economics that will make fuel price fall by not removing taxes from fuel, Economics that would make the Abossey Okine spare parts dealer use few cedis for more dollars. Not economics that cedi is depreciating at a slower rate because there is no ongoing project yet we keep on borrowing with the highest record in dept so far.
know that you not better than Ghanaian, economy about Ghana should not be confirmed by even external firms but by Ghanaian s. Ghanaian pockets situation are the best indicators of the economy nothing else. pls dr, try to respect, you are not only economics in Ghana.
OH BOYYY! I LOVE BAWUMIA. HE NAILED IT PERFECTLY. MAHAMA HAS NO IDEA AT ALL. HAHAHAHAHA
Only peacefm will give such news headline. So disgusting. Is insult a panacea to solving a problem?. In fact its so disgusting
This man once said Ghana is not poor. With fundamental or no fundamentals mitigate the suffering of the masses.
is this nkrumah's ghana?well continue to live in ***barred word*** paradise
Bawumliar pls tackle d problem n stop ur usual propaganda.....Ghanaians are wiser that what u think? when u were rantting n claiming to have arrested d fall of d cedi.....did u use this same basis u now want us belief? book economics is different from managing an economy...if u have failed ....honestly admit n stop making us look like ***barred word***......give us a break with ur dead analysis