Akufo-Addo deserves praise for stabilising economy not lies & propaganda - Majority

The Member of Parliament for Asikuma Odoben Brakwa Anthony Effah, has taken a swipe at the Minority over their empty press conference held on Wednesday to paint a negative picture about the economy.

The Member on the Finance and Works and Housing Committees said, the Minority is fond of organizing press conferences to deceive Ghanaians over policies of government.

He told Kwabena Agyapong on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM that, he Minority in 2018 organised more than 300 press conferences to spew out lies against the ruling government.

The Minority in Parliament has asked the government to immediately submit a fresh budget statement to the house, insisting the 2019 budget has been thrown out of gear by the depreciation of the cedis.

Minority spokesperson on Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson said investor confidence in the country’s economy is currently lost because of the falling value of the currency.

He told a media briefing in parliament house Wednesday the loss in value of the cedis is as a result of poor leadership.

He said: ‘’The depreciation of the cedi can be attributed primarily to portfolio outflows (as foreign investors repatriated coupons and principals) and a large current account deficit mainly due to large trade service charges and interest payments[…] the depreciation of the Cedi has increased the cost of doing business. Domestic businesses that rely on imported raw materials are compelled to pay more in cedi terms for their raw materials. The depreciation of the Cedi has made Ghanaian businesses less competitive. More Ghanaian businesses have collapse and many more yet to collapse in the coming days due to the weak performance of the Cedi.’’

But reacting to the comments by the Minority, the legislator said, the measures adopted by government are gradually stabilising the cedi.

In his view, the Minority said nothing during the press conference.

He said, the Bank of Ghana has outlined short-term measures, the Finance Minister has outlined medium term measures, and these measures have impacted the cedi positively.



MrEffah added there is improvement in the cedis performance against the dollar, and that there are plans to further stabilize the cedi in the coming days.

"The Minority should rather be applauding government instead of attacking us because we have done our best to stabilise the economy and create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.’’

In a sharp rebuttal, National Democratic Member of Parliament for Sekyere Afram Plains, Mr Adomako Mensah who is also a Ranking Member on the Finance Committee insisted the current situation has thrown the budget off gear.

He is asking why the cedi has not stabilised despite assurance by government the fundamentals of the economy were right.

Government he stressed must assure the business community of reliable measures to address the economic challenges.