Bawumia's "double standards" shocking - Fifi Kwetey

The deputy Finance Minister, Fifi Kwetey has accused the New Patriotic Party’s vice presidential candidate, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia of double standards for questioning the credibility of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).

Dr Bawumia on Wednesday raised doubts about figures collated by the Service based upon which single digit inflation has persisted for over 20 months now.

In his delivery on the state of Ghana’s economy at the 5th Ferdinand Ayim memorial lecture, the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana wondered if the Ghana Statistical Service has been collecting the right data.

But Mr. Kwetey in an interview with XYZ News said he is surprised Dr Bawumia relied on data from the statistical service in the past during the Kufuor administration but is now questioning the credibility of data collated by the same institution.

"Bawumia today is doing what, casting doubts about their [GSS] credibility. So is Bawumia calling into question the same institution that consistently produced statistical figures under the NPP?" He queried.

He added "The same institution that he claims that under the NPP they were able to achieve single digit inflation for a month, today he doubts them".

Mr Kwetey also reacted to claims by Dr Bawumia that the level of depreciation of the local currency against the dollar has never been seen in the country.

“In 2008, the cedi depreciated by twenty percent under his watch. In 2012 inspite of all the difficulties, the cedi has depreciated by only nine percent.

“Not only did it depreciate in 2008 by twenty percent, in the first couple of months of 2009 the calamity continued because of their terrible mess and the rot they left behind” Fiifi Kwetey said.**