Stop saying Cedi is ‘weakest in Africa’ – Ofori-Atta

Ghana’s finance minister Ken Ofori Atta is cautioning Ghanaians against labelling the local currency – the Ghana Cedi – as the “weakest in Africa.”

Speaking to journalists in Accra, Ofori-Atta said: “it’s not healthy for Ghanaians to repeat that.”

The Cedi continues to depreciate against major international currencies from the beginning of 2019 as currency watchers mark it as “the weakest on the continent” now. The Cedi has hit a record low of 5.6 to a dollar.

However, the Finance Minister is optimistic the ailing Cedi will regain its strength, latest in a fortnight. He stressed that the fundamentals of the economy are still strong.

“The truth of the matter is to look at the fundamentals of this country. Inflation is at a single digit which is good. Growth has been strong. The budget deficit has gone down and we are getting surpluses. I’m confident of the revival and stability of the Cedi,” he said.

“Really I am very confident that a reversal is going to occur and that it [cedi] is going to be pretty stable going forward. We have about 200 million dollars coming in from Cocobod and another 600 million from COCOBOD in a month or so…and that should close within the next weeks or so…with the type of capital that we expect in the few weeks we really expect a reversal and a stability,” the Finance Minister said.