Dr. John Kumah, Ghana’s Deputy Finance Minister, has refuted claims that the Ghana cedi is the weakest currency in Africa.
According to him, the government’s efforts to halt the cedi’s free fall against the dollar are being undermined by false propaganda.
He said that the cedi is the third-strongest currency in Africa, but he admitted that the rate of depreciation is bad.
Dr. John Kumah stated that many currencies are going through a rough patch, so people who are quick to criticize the government’s handling of the economy cannot solely blame the weak cedi on poor management.
He said, “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 those 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 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 said that the government has implemented some policies it believes will help to improve the cedi’s value against the dollar, as well as the economy as a whole.
“But the good news is that…like we announced government is intervening with this foreign exchange auctions which occasionally Bank of Ghana does to intervene in the market to bring calm and stability to the foreign exchange front.
“And then we have also introduced this gold buying to shore up our reserves in gold. And not just that we are also expecting the Cocoa syndicated loans by the end of the month or early next month which will equally come in to shore up our economy,” he said.
