Cedi hasn't been this better in 8 years - Bawumia defends

Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has said that the cedi is currently performing better than it ever has in the last eight years.

According to him, the fundamentals of the economy are getting stronger due to the slower rate of depreciation under the Nana Addo government.

He, therefore, defended government’s handling of the cedi, saying the currency recorded 17.5% in 2012, 14.6% in 2013, 31.3% in 2014, 15.6% in 2015, 9.6% in 2016 and just 4.9% in 2017.

The vice president was speaking at the launch of the National School Entrepreneurship Initiative in the Northern Region.

His comments come following complaints by a section of the public on the fast depreciation of the cedi against the US dollar.

Currently, the cedi is trading at close to 5 cedis to a dollar and more than 5 cedis on the black market. Dr. Bawumia is famed for stating during the campaigning period in 2016 that “if the fundamentals of the economy are weak, the exchange rate will expose you”.

He has therefore been held to his words by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), who have strongly criticised government for its handling of the cedi.

However, Dr. Bawumia maintains that the Ghana economy is not looking as bad as the opposition wants the public to believe.



According to him, Ghana’s economy has not performed this better in the last eight years, adding that increasing economic growth rate, decreasing inflation rate, decreasing fiscal deficit and decreasing debt to GDP ratio all point to a strong economy.

He said the cedi is not the only currency struggling against the US dollar, referring to the Argentina Peso, which has depreciated by 50.2% and the Turkish Lira which has also lost 42% of its value.

To this end, the former deputy governor of the central bank contends that the Nana Addo government has done "much better than our predecessors and much better than other countries".