Former Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development under the erstwhile Mahama administration, Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum has urged Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to come out of his hiding to arrest the sharp depreciation of the Cedi to the Dollar.
According to him, Dr. Bawumia as the Head of the government’s Economic Management Team who made a lot of noise while in opposition whenever the cedi depreciated, cannot continue to remain silent on the worrying situation of the national currency.
The local currency is still struggling to stabilise against the major international currencies with the US dollar, selling at between ¢5.6 and ¢5.7.
This same period last year, the cedi was sold at 4.42 and ¢4.27 in January 2017, prompting fears that the situation may get worse if long-term measures are not put in place.
Its year-to-date depreciation puts it among the worst-performing currencies in the emerging markets.
Vice President giving account of the Akufo Addo government’s first 100 days in office in 2017, stated that they’ve have been able to “arrest” the fall of the cedi and had handed over the keys to the IGP.
But he has remained quiet since the steep fall of the cedi in the past few months.
Speaking to on Ejura based Naagyei FM, Hon. Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum stated that veep Bawumia must make his voice heard on the cedi issue.
“You see that he(Bawumia ) is very quiet, he’s gone into hiding, maybe he has traveled. I’m hoping by next year he’ll come and salvage the situation and explain what is happening.
“But I think that we should all pray for the best that our cedi will fair well against the dollar because the rate at which it is depreciating, I don’t think it will help us as a country. Let’s forget about partisan politics, something serious really has to be done,” Hon. Agyekum noted.
Meanwhile, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta says the situation will stabilise in two weeks.
He told journalists outside Parliament Wednesday that government is expecting large inflows of foreign exchange in the country soon to help turn around the value of the cedi.
