Mona Quartey, Former finance Minister. |
Mona Quartey, who served as Ghana's Deputy Finance Minister in the
past, believes that the uncertainty surrounding Ken Ofori-Atta's future as
Ghana's Finance Minister is to blame for the continued free fall of the cedi.
According to Mona Quartey, the continued stay in office of the finance
minister, whose policies have failed domestically, has damaged the trust of
investors in the Ghanaian economy. This is despite the fact that various
reasons have contributed to the devaluation of the cedi.
“There is no doubt that the cedi depreciation is based on
uncertainty, and part of the uncertainty is the future of us maintaining the finance
minister. The world and the markets are looking and wondering why we would
continue to keep a Finance team that has implemented economic policies that
have failed domestically. So that uncertainty is feeding into the depreciation
rate,” Mrs Quartey said on Eyewitness News on Wednesday, November 9,
2022.
The value of the cedi has dropped by more than 50% since
January of 2022.
Additionally, the present inflation rate has been used by the
former deputy finance minister as proof that Ghana has returned to HIPC days.
“[The current inflation rate] is the highest since July 2001
during HIPC times. So, there is no doubt that we are back in HIPC times. There
is no doubt that we are in dire times, and we are all feeling it in our
pockets,” Mrs. Quartey told host Umaru Sanda Amadu.
Inflation in Ghana reached a record high of 40.4% in October of 2022.
On November 9, 2022, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) issued
statistics on the country's Consumer Price Index (CPI).
And per the data, Inflation for both food and non-food items were
recorded at 43.7%, and 37.8% respectively.
Also Read: Dollar-Cedi: Cedi world's worst performing currency - Bloomberg.
Source:
ghananews.hrforum.uk
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