Cedi Depreciation: Politics will not help us find solutions to it - Kweku Baako

The Managing Editor of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako Jnr says unless politics is taken out of cedi depreciation, it will be difficult to find a lasting solution to it.

The cedi has depreciated by 8.5 percent since January 2019.

Currency analysts are saying investors are withdrawing their money from the country, which was a cause for a slump in the value of the currency.

Over the years the two major political parties: the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have been engaging in 'cedi politics'; playing politics with the fall of the cedi.

The NDC are currently on the neck of the NPP especially Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to stabilize the cedi which is now trailing behind the dollar at GHC5.62.

The Minister of Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, has assured that the cedi will begin to appreciate against the major currencies within two weeks.

He said government is expecting large inflows of foreign exchange in the country soon to help turn around the value of the cedi.

“We have about $300 million coming in from COCOBOD and another $600 million also from COCOBOD in about a month or so. We have officially launched our Eurobond which will be $3 billion and that should close within the next couple of weeks. With the kind of fundraising that I have talked about; I think that all things will come to an end and we will realise that this is just a blip...and all of this should happen the next two or so weeks,” he indicated.

But Kweku Baako speaking to this in a discussion on Joy FM's Newsfile programme says 'the earlier we cut out the politicization, the better'

Speaking on the Finance Minister's assurance, Kweku Baako says "I want to believe what he is saying but I am wondering if history really supports what he is saying; we’ve seen this prescription before….it’s recycling of the same old story; injecting more foreign exchange into the economy…I know in the short term; in the medium term perhaps these are prescriptions that you can operationalize and put out there but it must come with other factors; some other factors must come to bear to at least bring a certain relief...unfortunately we have a history of politicization of this particular issue of cedi depreciation...

Unless we all agree that playing politics with this we will not find a solution to this" the same situation will pop up even if NDC comes to power"

"There is no quick fix to this challenge…" he added.