The performance of the Ghana Cedi against the US Dollar under the 18 months President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government is the best since 2012, Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta has stated.
Ken Ofori-Atta made this assertion while delivering the mid-year budget review in Parliament on Thursday, July 19, 2018.
Quoting figures to support his claim, the Minister said “the year on year depreciation of the Ghana cedi against the US dollar stood at 4.9% in 2017. It was 9.7% in 2016. It was 15.7% in 2015. It was 31.3% in 2014 and 17. 5% in 2014.”
The Minister added that “a further interrogation from the Bank of Ghana shows that the depreciation in the first half has been the best since 2012. It is instructive to note that from January 2018, to June 2018, the Ghana cedi depreciation against the dollar was 2.4% as against 17.2% in 2012 , 3.3 % in 2016 and 3.7% in 2017. If this is anything to go by, it means the 2018 performance of the Ghana cedi is likely to be better than even the 4.9 percent we experienced in 2017 which was an all-time low, compared to the 4 years of the Mahama administration.”
He was however quick to add that the cedi had come under pressure, despite the “strong fundamentals” devised by the NPP government to stabilize the currency.
The Minister’s comments come despite the cedi’s depreciation against major trading currencies in May and June 2018.
As at May 7, the cedi was trading at 4 cedis, 41 pesewas, but by June 7 it had depreciated by 0.7 percent to 4 cedis, 44 pesewas.
The mid-year budget presentation is in line with Ghana’s Financial Management Administration Act which requires that the Minister for Finance appear before Parliament not later than July 31, to submit a Mid-Year Fiscal Policy review.
The review is to afford the government the opportunity to announce its revision of its economic targets whose key components include the country’s macroeconomic performance and forecast for the remaining half of the year.
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It will also analyze the country’s revenue targets and expenditures.
