Minority demands new budget over cedi depreciation

The minority in Parliament is demanding a new budget from the Akufo-Addo government in the wake of the depreciation of the cedi against major international currencies.

The Cedi until Thursday, March 14 had fallen deeply against international currencies especially the dollar, by some 5 per cent trading at around GH¢5.90.

It has, however, begun to record some marginal appreciation against the dollar closing at around GH¢5.56 against the dollar on March 15, 2019 - a development which is largely due to the injection of dollar cash by the Bank of Ghana last week.

According to the NDC MPs, the 2019 budget presented a couple of months ago has been rendered useless by the depreciation of the Cedi and other challenges in the economy.

Speaking at a roundtable discussion on the economy, minority Spokesperson on Finance Cassiel Ato Forson blamed the performance of the cedi on bad management.

“The depreciation of the cedi has put the economy in disarray and the projections surrounding it as contained in the 2019 budget. This has therefore undermined the confidence in the economy and sends a wrong signal to the investor community,” he said.

He continued, “This calls for urgent steps to be taken by the government to restore the economic health. The starting point is that we should be immediately presenting a new budget which considers all distortions and the serious problems occasioned by the fall of the value of the cedi.

“At the minimum, we expect a statement to parliament assuring the nation and investor community of the steps taken by government to address the instability of the economy and that…the budget as presented by the Minister of Finance can no longer be relied upon as true blueprint upon which to manage the economy for the year.”