Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has argued that the Ghana cedi performed worst under the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama’s administration
The worst performance of the cedi, he said occurred from 1993 to 2000 when Rawlings was in power and 2009-2016 when Mahama was President. The cedi depreciated at an average rate of 18% when Mahama was President.
Speaking on the state of the economy at the national TESCON conference at Kasoa Millinium City, on Thursday, April 7, 2022, Dr Bawumia said the “average exchange rate depreciation during 2017-2021, at 6.8% under our government, is more than twice as stable than during the 2013-2016 period.”
Commenting on the depreciation of the cedi in the first quarter of 2022, the Vice President accepted that the cedi has seen the sharpest depreciation in the first quarter since 2015.
Adding that, data from the Bank of Ghana shows that at the end of March the Cedi had depreciated by 15.5%.
To Dr. Bawumia, a number of factors has contributed to the fast depreciation of the cedi in the first quarter of the year.
“The financial markets assessment of the 2022 Budget generally concluded that the projected 40% increase in revenue underpinning the budget would likely not materialize and therefore the deficit will be higher than projected.
“The chaotic battle in parliament over the budget created uncertainty and signalled to the markets that the government may not be able to get most of its programs passed in a tightly balanced parliament. This further reinforced the lack of confidence by investors in the budget” he explained.
