The MP for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, said the NPP government is to blame for the cedi’s depreciation against the dollar
He said though he is an NPP member, he would not deny that Akufo-Addo and Bawumia had lied to Ghanaians about the cedi’s performance – Ghanaian have decried the rate at which the cedi has performed poorly against other major trading currencies
The Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, has said the NPP government is to blame for the poor performance of the cedi. As at Monday, September 17, 2018, the cedi was trading at GH₵5.00 against a dollar, according to forex news. This seems to be the highest ever since the cedi started depreciation against the dollar and other major currencies since the NPP government came to power in January 2017.
While Ghanaians have expressed disappointment about the cedi’s depreciation, the NPP has accused the erstwhile John Mahama administration of being responsible for the poor performance of the currency. In a reaction, however, the outspoken Agyapong said Ghanaians should blame the NPP government for not being truthful about the cedi depreciation. He accused the government of lying to Ghanaians about the actual percentage of the depreciation. “They should show me where they found cedi to dollar at 4.75 and I will buy 10million dollars. I don’t lie. I am suffering. I am NPP but I speak the truth. I said today, they should show me where they bought it for 4.75 and I will buy 10million dollars now-now,” he stressed. This was contained in a report sighted by YEN. com.gh on Pulsegh. com.
Agyapong is also reported to have said: “The thing was GH¢4.20. Now, in 18 months since we came, it is 5 cedis. At some places, it is even GH¢5.20! What is he (Dr Boako) talking about?” “If you look well, 80 pesewas has come to join it. Simple mathematics is 80p over [divided by] GH¢4.20p times [multiplied by] 100 (%), it gives you 19%! So how can Boako say it is 6%?” he querried. Kennedy Agyapong was reacting to a statement by Dr Gideon Boako, the spokesperson for the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, that the assessment of the depreciating cedi should be within the context of other currencies losing value to the dollar. According to Boako, the rate of the cedi’s depreciation is much better as a result of government actions, compared with the NDC government.
But Kennedy Agyapong believes comparison and blame games are not the way to go because the NPP government has performed poorly in managing the cedi. “If we are going to compare performance then it is wrong. It is not going to help… in fact, yesterday I was saying that on Adom TV. It was not good for Boako to come out.”
“When we took over power, it was 4.20 cedis to one dollar, today the cedi has depreciated by 80 pesewas, now at 5 cedis,” Kennedy Agyapong said. Revealing the cause of the cedi depreciation, Kennedy Agyapong said the cedi was falling because people had lost confidence in the bank and had ended up trading dollars.
Source: yen.com
