Cedi’s performance under Akufo-Addo impressive – Finance Minister

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta says the cedi has performed far better under the Akufo-Addo government than it did in the last six years.

The minister, in his 2018 Mid-year Budget Review presentation to Parliament blamed the pressures on the Ghana cedi on external factors.

“Despite the strong fundamentals we have seen the cedi come under pressure primarily due to external pressures. In fact, Mr Speaker, aside from the short transitory volatilities recorded in June this year the average performance of the dollar (cedi) has been one of the best in recent years,” he noted.

The minister further noted that data from the Bank of Ghana revealed that the cedi’s depreciation in the first half of 2018 is the best since 2012.

He said, “It is instructive to note, Mr Speaker, that from January 2018 to June 2018 the cumulative depreciation of the Ghana cedi against the dollar was 2.4% as against 17.2% in 2012, 3.3% in 2016 and 3.7% in 2017”.

Mr Ofori-Atta was confident the cedi’s performance at the end of the year will be much better than the 4.9% recorded in the previous year.

“If this is anything to go by it means that the 2018 performance of the Ghana cedi is likely, Mr Speaker, to be better than even the 4.9% we experienced in 2017 giving us an all-time low compared to the four years of the Mahama administration.”