Your 'boot for boot is like boot for chale wote' - Bawumia shades NDC

Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President and Chairman of the Economic Management Team has dismissed claims that the cedi has performed worst under the Akufo-Addo led government.

Addressing the maiden Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, he said the cedi has performed better than it did in the erstwhile Mahama administration.

“The data on the annual rate of depreciation of the cedi in recent years show that the worst performance of the cedi so far under the NPP government, the 8.4 per cent depreciation that we saw since 2018, that worst performance is better than the best performance under the previous government between 2012 and 2016. So our worst is better than your best. Then they say boot for boot; it is more like boot-for-chale wote," Dr Bawumia stated.

Addressing a maiden townhall meeting on Wednesday, he said: "our worst is better than your best..."

The opposition National Democratic Congress has been on the Vice President's case for not being able to stabilize the cedi. According to the opposition, as someone touted as an economic guru, Dr Bawumia should not have had any difficulty making sure the cedi gain appreciately against major trading foreign currencies. They referred to a popular phrase Dr Bawumia coined while in opposition: "If the fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate will expose you".

In what can best pass for a direct shade at the NDC, Dr Bawumia pointed out the fact that the cedi was depreciating does not mean the fundamentals are weak; it could be due to other factors.

“But it is warped logic to jump from that to a conclusion that if there is depreciation in your currency, then the fundamentals must be weak. Do you understand the logic? If the fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate will expose you, but if the exchange rate moves, you cannot jump to that conclusion that the fundamentals are weak. That defies logic”, Dr Bawumia said, adding: “There could be external factors causing the exchange rate depreciation”.

"If I tell you that if your leg is broken, you are going to be unable to walk, then I’m somewhere and somebody comes to tell me: ‘This person is unable to walk, can I just conclude that the leg must be broken? There can be other reasons why you are unable to walk. But the NDC logic will insist in the face of contrary evidence that since you cannot walk, it must mean that your leg has broken...The exchange rate in 2014 had exposed the weak fundamentals…we were in a much weaker position in 2014 compared to 2018," he added.