Former Deputy Minister of Communications under the Mahama administration, Felix Kwakye Ofosu has described Dr Bawumia’s presentation in a town hall meeting in Kumasi as ‘statistical galamsey’.
Felix Kwakye Ofosu said the presentation by the Vice President was a complete misuse of data.
Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosiisen in reaction to the presentation by Dr Bawumia, Felix Kwakye Ofosu said there is no difference in his presentation today and the ones you used to do when they were in opposition.
According to him, there was no excitement around the presentation as compared to when he was in opposition because most Ghanaians believe he will do nothing different.
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He said the statement made by Dr Bawumia that they have managed the economy better than the NDC is false.
Felix Kwakye Ofosu explained that there are some key indicators that most governments are measured with, that is exchange rate, inflation and growth rate.
With this, he said the NDC was able to achieve a growth rate of 14.4% which the NPP is yet to attain the same with single-digit inflation.
Speaking to the issues of the country’s debt stock of which the Vice President said they are doing well because the primary balance of Ghana is positive, Felix Ofosu Kwaky said during 2016 when Dr Bawumia was holding lectures on the economy the debt stock was 120 billion cedis but within their three years stay in office they have added over 100 billion cedis to it.
But the Vice President wants Ghanaians to believe they are managing the economy better.
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He also stated that the exchange rate during the NDC administration did not exceed 4 Ghana Cedis to a dollar but the NPP in opposition said they are not performing well but are quick to defend a cedi which has exceed 5 cedis to the dollar.
Bawumia still maintains they have ‘arrested’ the depreciating cedi
Vice President Dr Bawumia has maintained that the NPP government has arrested the rapid depreciation of the cedi.
According to him, the depreciation figures clearly show that they have done a good job in reducing the rate of the cedi depreciating against other trading currencies especially the dollar.
Addressing a town hall meeting in Kumasi to outline the successes chalked by the NPP government based on the promises made during the 2016 general elections, Dr Bawumia said the floating exchange regime used by the country will never allow a fixed exchange rate.
Explaining the factors that influence the exchange rate, Dr Bawumia said “at basic level, it’s influenced by factors such as relative demand and supply for foreign currencies, …. generally it reflects the purchasing power of one currency to another, countries have a choice to two types of exchange rate regimes, you can have a fixed exchange regime or the floating exchange regime where the exchange rate is determined by forces of demand and supply. Ghana operates a floating or managed a floating regime and for that reason in Ghana, we should never expect that the exchange rate will be fixed. It will fluctuate depending on demand and supply, what policymakers can do it to control the rate of depreciation or appreciation of the currency through sound policy.”
He noted that “In the context of this, a floating regime arresting the depreciation of a currency can only mean slowing down the rate of depreciation and stopping the rapid and volatile depreciation of the currency, generally, there is a direct relationship between higher inflation and the exchange rate appreciation or depreciation and if you look at the table it tells you that fundamentally what determines an exchange rate of an economy is largely driven by inflation differentials other factors can happen in the short period to affect the currency but whenever you have higher inflation relative to the currency you dealing with you will have higher depreciation if your inflation lowers you will have lower depreciation..”
Responding to critics that he has failed in managing the cedi as he promised, the Vice President maintained that they have arrested the cedi based on the facts he has presented.
