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Company News of Thursday, April 25, 2019
Source: clbadfmonline.com
2019-04-25
Professor Kwesi Botchwey
Professor Kwesi Botchwey, Ghana's oldest finance minister, said he was concerned about insults and bipartisan public discourse over Ghana's cedi exchange rate against other international currencies, including the dollar.
In an interview with The Vaultz Magazine published Wednesday, April 24, 2019, Professor Botchwey stressed the need for a stable exchange rate.
He said Ghana had "an exchange rate problem," explaining that "between December 2018 and February 2019, the exchange rate lost about 13% of its value against the dollar, compared to a modest appreciation in the same period of 2018".
He continued, "The consternation is understandable. When the value of the cedi falls, especially abruptly, it has destabilizing consequences for businesses and consumers, making planning more difficult. It's something that needs to be moderated and maintained in a group that is sustainable. "
"I see two problems," said Professor Botchwey. "One of them is that the public's perception of the magnitude and causes of the problem is partly a function of the narrative of some policymakers who suggests that the stability of the cedi is simply a function of the brilliance and competence of economic managers and that, by means of skills, the cedi can be sort of sheltered from the vagaries of the market ".
Professor Botchwey said, "The other problem is that the public discourse on exchange rate issues is so steeped in partisanship, arrogance, and even insults that a discussion of principle becomes impossible.
For him, "no one is omniscient and I do not talk about anyone! Among economists, there is always room for disagreements. It is not for nothing that George Bernard Shaw, playwright, polemicist and Irish social activist, said: "If all economists were put together, they would never reach a conclusion." We must create an environment in which a principled and pbadionless debate is possible. "
In suggesting solutions to manage the drop rate of the Ghana cedi, Professor Botchwey observed that: "First, you identify and correct immediate causes such as seasonal factors and other short-term factors and hope that this particular episode will happen. [of extremities] s & # 39; soothes.
"Then you talk about the long-term structural problems of the economy that affect the supply and demand of foreign exchange. Believe me, there is no quick fix. We are here before this last episode, and it will not be the last ".
Members of Ghana's two main political parties – the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress – the main opposition party – are fighting over who the best economic managers are in terms of the control of the depreciation of the cedi.
The country's vice president, Mahamudu Bawumia, said in the past that "if the fundamentals of the economy are weak, the exchange rate will be revealing".
The opposition party repeated Dr Bawumia's remarks against him following the worst recorded rate of cedi, a dollar of $ 1 to 5.8 GHS in March 2019.
However, Bawumia came back with a conference to suggest that the NDC had reasoned "distortedly" to say that the fact that the value of the cedi fell necessarily meant that Ghana's economic fundamentals were weak.
Speaking at a public meeting in Accra on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, Mr Bawumia said the worst performance of the nuclear power plant was better than the best cedi write-down rate recorded under the NDC.
Also, an opposition member of Central Bolga, Mr. Isaac Adongo; and Mr. Cbadiel Ato Forson, a member of Parliament's Finance Committee, refuted Mr. Bawumia's remarks at a conference on Ghana's economy in Accra on Thursday, April 4, 2019.
Mr. Forson even instructed President Nana Akufo-Addo to gag Dr. Bawumia because, in his view, the former deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana had caused the depreciation of the Ghana cedi.
Mr. Bawumia was accused by the minority of misrepresenting the facts and figures in order to deceive the Ghanaians.
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