What Dr. Bawumia said about currency depreciation in 2015

As the general elections approaches in less than five months, there is high anticipation ahead of the election of a new president and Members of Parliament for the 9th Parliament of Ghana.

The state of the Ghanaian economy is a major concern for many voters, particularly the business community and many households struggling with the increasing costs of living, depreciation of the cedi, high taxes, and utility costs.

Leading up to the elections, social media users have been sharing both past and present statements made by the two main political parties in the country, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The current flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party and Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has been described as the economic 'whizkid' of the ruling government.

Before the 2016 elections, Dr. Bawumia made the infamous remark about the weak fundamentals of the cedi, which some believe influenced voters to remove the previous Mahama administration.

In a 2015 interview on the Focus on Ghana show, Dr. Bawumia criticized the Mahama government for the continuous decline in the local currency.

He emphasized that the government had mismanaged the economy and needed to be removed.

Dr. Bawumia, who explained his demand at the time, said, "Currencies depreciate when the fundamentals of the economy are wrong and the mismanagement of this economy in terms of the fundamentals was what was driving the depreciation of the currency.

"You can't be running double deficits, double-digit current account and fiscal deficit, borrowing to this extent, financing your deficit with huge printing of money from the Central Bank and expect your currency to be stable," the then vice presidential candidate said.

At the time, the cedi was selling around GH¢4 to the US dollar, and the economy was considered by many to be in disarray under the NDC administration.

As of May 2024, Ghana is now experiencing one of the worst economic crises in decades, with the cedi ranked as the fourth-worst performing currency among the top 150 currencies tracked by Bloomberg globally.

The economic challenges have led the government to seek financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under an Extended Credit Facility spanning a three-year period.

Currencies depreciate when the fundamentals (of the economy) are wrong - DMB circa 2015 pic.twitter.com/WnLnkBQlVm

— roland walker👣 (@rowalkerghana) June 18, 2024