The Ghana Cedis is not the weakest currency in Africa, this is according to the Deputy Finance Minister, Dr. John Kumah.
The deputy minister debunked the claims in an interview with JoyNews. He described the claims that the cedi is the worst currency on the continent as mere propaganda to make the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government look bad.
According to him, it is also to undermine the government’s fiscal measures in halting the free fall of the cedi against the dollar by their opponents (the National Democratic Congress).
Dr. Kumah further revealed in the interview that the Ghana Cedi is currently the third strongest currency in Africa.
He however, conceded that the rate of depreciation the cedi is experiencing might be the worst on the continent.
“And look, I’ve heard all the propaganda, they said Ghana cedi is the worst in Africa and all kinds of things. Look, don’t believe that propaganda. I just returned from Tunisia on a programme, and Tunisia has the second strongest currency in Africa.
“Ghana is third actually according to any global ranking of currencies. I am talking about the strength of currencies in Africa. The Libyan Dinar, followed by Tunisian Dinar and then Ghana cedi is the third strongest currency in Africa. But maybe they were talking about the rate of depreciation.
“I just saw what is happening in Nigeria and they are equally complaining that their Naira is not just four hundred and something to the dollar, but sometimes it’s even 700 depending on where … sometimes they can’t even find the dollar. So this is a global situation,” he said.
Mr. Kumah added, “So it is not just a Ghana situation, it is something that is happening globally and people should not begin to think that it’s as a result of some bad policy or whatever.”
He stated that government has put in place some measures it believes would stabilize the cedi against the dollar and shore up the economy.
So critics cannot blame the poor performing cedi on fiscal mismanagement.
