Don't be ungrateful; NPP has cut cedi fall from 31% to 6% – Boako

Dr Gideon Boako, who speaks for Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on economic issues, has said Ghanaians should not be ungrateful to the Akufo-Addo government as far as the depreciation of the cedi is concerned, since the current government has done a lot to reduce the rate of fall of the local currency from 31% to 6% – a far better record, in his view, than the Mahama administration achieved.

The cedi is nearing the 5 to $1 mark, a situation that has set businesspeople on edge.

“What is important is that; whatever the depreciation was at the time is not the same as today”, Dr Boako told Accra-based Citi TV, adding: “That is why if someone has been able to reduce the rate of depreciation from a point of 31 per cent to 6 per cent, you do not just be ungrateful to that person and say he has not done well.”

It means, he said, “That given the chance that person has what it takes to take you to a point where you have zero depreciation and you can think of how to grow up; that is the most important.

“If you do not situate the argument within that context, you will just be comparing the nominal figures”, Dr. Boako argued.

In his view, “It is important to also note that insofar as we don’t run a fixed exchange rate regime, depreciation is something that will be difficult to say you won’t see it at all.

“You try as much as possible to contain it and make sure you appreciate, but given the structure of our economy right from Guggisberg’s time to Nkrumah to today, the structure of the economy is such that we are mostly net importers, and, so, the trade accounts issued will affect our local currency at all times.

“We also have huge exposures to foreign investors in the country – those who are doing retail businesses and the likes, so they repatriate money outside and all of these will have effect on us”, he explained.