Blame politicians for the cedi depreciation – Fiifi Kwetey

A former Deputy Finance Minister and Member of Parliament for Ketu South, Fiifi Kwetey, says politicians must be blamed for the depreciation of the cedi and not the central bank.

Speaking at the second Economic Dialogue series organised by the Media General on Thursday, the former minister conceded that the politicisation of the economy is a major contributory factor to the speculative effect on the cedi.

Fiifi Kwetey said “if politicians are quick to take the credit when the cedi is performing better, then they must take the blame when the cedi depreciates, not the central bank.

“If the vice president said he will arrest the depreciation of the cedi and hand over the keys to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), and the cedi rather depreciates as we witnessed recently, I will blame the vice president,” he stressed.

Fiifi Kwetey who was also a Minister of Agriculture under John Mahama wants government to begin implementing policies to address the cedi depreciation in medium to long term.

Earlier, a former president of the Association of Ghana Industries, Mr. Tony Oteng-Gyasi has challenged government to track all economic indices rather than focus on the exchange rate in its attempt to stabilise the cedi.

Breaking the cycle of depreciation, he said the government should be cautious in its attempt to add value to products as trade barriers make it difficult to export finished goods.

“When we talk structural change, more of it are legal issues. These are trade policies which our policymakers must sit with lawyers to address” he said.

The former AGI president stressed on the need for a balance between inflation and depreciation of the cedi.

Meanwhile, an international economist, Kwame Pianim is urging Ghanaians to restructure the economy to save the cedi from further depreciation.

Mr. Kwame Pianim called for a restructuring of the economy, taking into consideration all indicators causing the cedi to depreciate, cautioning, “If we don’t restructure, problems will still persist”.

He noted that policy inconsistency and bad policies by management of the economy has become a threat to national development.

The economist observed that when loans contracted by the government is used for infrastructural development it can make the currency stable and increase productivity.

“It is not good to use loans for consumption, we have to use it for transforming the economy so that we can focus on expenditure control”, he added.

The economic dialogue was under the theme: “The Ghana cedi, breaking the cycle of depreciation.”