Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
A Political Science lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr. Kwesi Amakye Boateng has thrown tantrums at the Vice president, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for refusing to give detailed information on the cedi fall during his lecture on the economy.
Speaking on Kumasi-based Pure Fm Morning drive, he stated “The veep churned out lots of information during the town hall meeting, but what saddens me is that he only sang choruses together with participants instead of giving us concrete details of the cedi depreciation. It’s sad.”
Sounding worried, the political science lecturer said, “I’m not much of an economics person but I believe Ghanaians are much interested in the cedi to dollar depreciation.”
He however commended government for the reduction in benchmark value of import duties at all of the country’s ports by 50 per cent and 30 per cent for vehicles respectively.
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who heads the Akufo-Addo government’s Economic Management Team, on 3 April 2019, addressed Ghanaians on the state of the economy at a town hall meeting on the theme: “Our progress, our status, our future”.
Ghanaians were yearning to hear from Dr Bawumia, especially, as the local currency, the cedi, takes a beating from the dollar and other major international currencies of trade.
On Wednesday, 20th March 2019, for instance, the Minority said within a space of two years, the Akufo-Addo government has added GHS80 billion to Ghana’s debt stock, adding that the fall of the local currency alone, added GHS15.3 billion to the bill.
The tottering cedi almost hit the $1: GHS6 mark this month but made some gains to hover at $1: GHS5.65 after the Bank of Ghana pumped some $800 million into the system.
According to the Minority in parliament, the fall in the cedi essentially means Ghana’s external debt stock, as of November 2018, shot up to GHS101.3 billion at the current exchange rate.
Meanwhile, Dr. Bawumia has blamed the recent depreciation of the cedi on directives from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to the Bank of Ghana.
