Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has touted the government’s achievement in managing the cedi against foreign currencies.
According to him, despite the ravaging effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the cedi under the Akufo-Addo government has recorded the lowest depreciation ever in the Fourth Republic.
Speaking at the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union’s 11th Quadrennial Delegates Conference on Thursday, Dr Bawumia outlined the depreciation rates of the cedi during the leadership of previous governments.
He said “between 1993 and 1996 the exchange rate of the cedi against the dollar depreciated by an average of 27.9%. Between 1997 and 2000 the depreciation was 25%. From 2001 to 2004 it was 11%. During 2009 and 2012 it was 10.1%. Between 2013 and 2016 18%. And from 2017 to 2019 the depreciation of the cedi has come down from the 18% to 7.3%.
“And that is quite remarkable and making it the lowest depreciation of the cedi in the Fourth Republic.”
The Vice President noted that Ghana has a flexible exchange rate regime and added that the government is ensuring that the cedi maintains its stability for the economic growth of the country.
“We don’t operate in Ghana a fixed exchange rate regime, we have a flexible exchange rate regime which means the exchange rate will go up and down for us in maintaining this flexible exchange rate regime.
“The challenge for the management of economic policy is making sure that you maintain relative stability and you don’t have an accelerated depreciation of the exchange rate that we have seen many years past,” he said.
He stressed that the government, during the peak of the health crisis, executed measures that have effectively cushioned the economy.
“We have also focused on stabilising the cedi. The value of the cedi is very important and its stability is also very key for economic development and the welfare of businesses and individuals.
“We are very high import-dependent economy, [so] when the cedi depreciates at a certain level, we feel it in the prices of goods and services; petroleum prices and so on. And so we have a very important mandate to try and maintain the stability of the cedi over time,” he added.