Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, has launched a strong attack on Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, accusing him of adopting what he described as a “lazy approach” to stabilising the Ghana cedi against major foreign currencies.
According to Mr Assafuah, the recent strengthening of the cedi earlier this year was not the result of any sound economic policy, but rather what he termed as mere “settings” engineered by the administration.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Pulse Ghana, the lawmaker alleged that the Bank of Ghana had injected an estimated $4.4 billion into the economy in an attempt to prop up the local currency. While this intervention produced immediate results, he warned that the underlying weaknesses of the cedi would be exposed in the long run.
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He explained:
We warned them that you cannot solve the cedi’s depreciation simply by pumping in dollars. In the long term, you will be exposed. Within eight (8) months, you have not been able to stabilise the cedi. All that you did was to inject about $4.4 billion to shore it up. In the short term, you had results, but now the reality is clear, and this is what we are seeing today.
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Mr Assafuah further predicted a sharp depreciation of the cedi by the end of the year, warning that the exchange rate could hit GHC15 to $1.
Trust me, by December the dollar will cross GHC15. I am not a prophet of doom, but I have followed governance closely, and what I see is not good for this country. Because of politics, government is trying to create the impression that it is working when, in fact, it is not.
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The latest interbank exchange rates for the Ghana cedi against major foreign currencies, published by the Bank of Ghana, show the US dollar buying at GHC11.9540 and selling at GHC11.9660. The British pound sterling is trading at GHC16.1702 for buying and GHC16.1876 for selling, while the euro is quoted at GHC14.0415 for buying and GHC14.0542 for selling.
The latest interbank exchange rates for the Ghana cedi
Full Interview Here:
