Deputy Minister for Finance, Dr Stephen Amoah, has clarified that his statement that the cedi depreciation is a ritual problem has been taken out of context.
The Ghana cedi in the past month has weakened against the US dollar and other major foreign currencies.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Dr Amoah asserted that, the depreciation is a ritual problem caused by the import-driven economy.
He highlighted that with importation putting demand on the dollar, cedi depreciation is a problem which requires national attention, beyond the scope of any single government.
But the Minister who doubles as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nhyiaeso constituency said his statement has been skewed deliberately.
“We have a country where anybody says anything and they [some media persons] take a part and do stories and create a whole thing out of it and a time will come when it will be difficult to freely grant interviews,” he said in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM.
Dr Amoah also assured that Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia if elected, will develop a long-term framework to address the cedi’s depreciation.
However, he says he only suggested how and who can best stabilise the cedi’s free fall against the major trading currencies.
“I went to monitor the voter registration exercise and they [media] asked me about the dollar and the Cedi’s depreciation and all that I said was that from now till December, we are doing our best to stabilise the Cedi, which I said is a short-term approach, but we need a long-term approach to resolve the issue through a framework, and then I proposed that to achieve that, we will design a long-term approach when Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is elected president,” he stated.
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