Amin Adam has criticized the government’s handling of the cedi, arguing that billions of dollars pumped into the forex market have produced only weak and temporary gains.
Addressing the press on Friday, November 14, the former Finance Minister welcomed the Bank of Ghana’s renewed commitment to intervene “in a measured and transparent manner,” calling it the responsible path the economy needs.
According to him, the scale of interventions should have yielded a far stronger currency than what the market is currently showing.
“With the significant billions of dollars of interventions, we expected the rate to be at GH₵8 to a dollar. The market’s muted response reveals a sophisticated understanding that currency strength cannot be purchased; it must be earned through sound economic fundamentals.”
Dr. Adam also revealed that during the NPP administration, the IMF had imposed limits on how much the Bank of Ghana could inject into the forex market.
“During the NPP administration, the IMF restricted the Bank of Ghana from intervening heavily in the forex market. The intervention budget was fixed at US$80 million per month, despite international reserves exceeding the IMF target. By the end of 2024, reserves stood at almost US$9 billion.”
He argued that the current government has drawn heavily on those reserves, yet the cedi’s performance has not significantly improved.
“The new Bank of Ghana management and the government began injecting massive sums of forex into the market from reserves they inherited. The performance of the cedi is therefore not by any magic or policy intervention; it is due to the hard work under the NPP administration.”
Despite these efforts, he believes the results are underwhelming and unsustainable.
“Despite these burdensome interventions, the gains remain disappointingly modest and fundamentally unsustainable.”
Taking aim at government communication, he cautioned against what he described as misleading narratives.
“Merely repeating an untruth does not make it the truth.”
He concluded by warning that the current path will not deliver lasting stability.
“These resources have been squandered on temporary cosmetic improvements that will inevitably reverse once intervention capacity is exhausted.”
