Cedi Depreciation: Bipartisan Loss of Time and Energy Poll – Ato Forson

Company News of Thursday, March 28, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-03-28

A member of Parliament's finance committee, Ato Forson opposes the government's call for a bipartisan survey on the annual depreciation of the cedi.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta hailed the success with which the government saved the cedi against the currency of the dollar, during a presentation to Parliament on Thursday.

This happens every year and the government, especially President Nana Akufo-Addo, wants to find a lasting solution to the problem.

He instructed the Minister of Finance to find that quickly. In his presentation, Mr. Ofori-Atta revealed that a bipartite committee would be created for this.

He said: "The president asked that I study the structural causes of the depreciation of the cedi and propose measures to remedy the situation.

"The governor and I are going to set up a bipartite committee to proceed immediately," he said.

But Forson, a former deputy finance minister, said the approach was totally useless.

He told Joy News's Evans Mensah that the management team was willing to offer their skills when asked, but this decision represents "a waste of time and resources".

For him, it will be a surprise for the government or for anyone to say that they do not know the causes of the depreciating cedi, to such an extent that a committee should be set up to determine it.

"What we see is only the symptom, not the disease. We know what the disease is and, in fact, everyone in the country knows what causes the depreciation of the cedi, "he said.

The Ajumako-Anyan-Asiam MP said that the two major problems facing the country and that result in the persistent depreciation of the cedi are the lack of investment in the sectors of the economy and the excessive borrowing.

"We do not invest a lot in the fields of agriculture, areas that we can not easily import, but we invest in consumption.

"Once again, we borrow too much. The foreign participation in our country is such that all the forex that we end up collecting, part of them ending up being used for loan service. The amount we use to repay our debt is in itself a problem for us as a country, "he added.

He does not think that the committee is a solution to the problem and that "the statement itself is not well thought out … it will not solve the problem".

But the chairman of the finance committee, Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah, does not agree with his colleague.

He said the bipartite committee should not be seen as the only solution to the problem, but among others.

In his opinion, a currency can not depreciate so much in one week and enjoy so much in another. This does not mean that fundamentals are weak, as Vice President Mahamadu BAwumia said, it simply means that something is wrong.

"When a currency appreciates like last week, it defies economic theories. A currency that has depreciated so quickly … we should not see these fluctuations. That's the volatility, the fluctuation, it's not normal.

"So there must be something we have not turned away from in the past, and I think it's time for us to review the data and understand the economic events again," he said. .