The Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, Isaac Adongo has responded to the Finance Minister, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam’s criticisms of his statement on the dollar.
The Bolgatanga Member of Parliament(MP) said he made an honest comment based on the reality and not speculations.
“What did I say that is not true? You said that after what you have done we should look forward to the dollar the following week, that was last week. Where is the dollar now?
“If you watch that video, you would have noticed that I was admonishing the people to desist from speculative buying but if you need money or dollars to do your business, don’t rely on what the finance minister said to fool you to your own detriment. So, if you needed dollars to do your business, by all means, you should go ahead and buy them. How is that unpatriotic?” he stated in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM.
Mr Adongo who was sceptical about the quick recovery of the cedi following the debt restructuring programme encouraged business owners to buy dollars for their operations if necessary.
At a joint press conference with the Bank of Ghana(BoG) and IMF officials, Dr. Adam slammed the lawmaker, pledging the commitment to stabilise the cedi.
The Minister also cautioned against speculations on the cedi’s current challenges, stating that such actions contribute to the currency’s woes.
But Mr Adongo has insisted there was nothing wrong with his statement.
“In any case are we not managing this economy to support businessmen as well? So, if I am asking the businessman to continue with his rational economic decision, how do you call that speculation.
“If the man needed a dollar to buy and it was GH¢15.5 and he didn’t buy it, today, it is GH¢15.7. Would the finance minister give him the additional monies that have been added to go and buy the dollar?” he quizzed.
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