- He urged Ghanaians to stop badmouthing and browbeating the current exertions of the Cedi, and to stop repeating after others that it is the cheapest on the continent.
Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has refrained into the melodious chorus surrounding the recovery of the embattled national currency, the Cedi, whose stock continue to take hard-hits from the ever-hard-hitting United Kingdom Pounds Sterling and the United States Dollar.
ASSURANCE
He has given the assurance that the Cedi will begin to rise, perhaps like gari or dough infused with yeast, against the major currencies within the next two weeks.
Related: President Akufo-Addo Vows to Arrest Rising Cedi
Related: Cedi will regain strength in weeks - Finance Minister
“The reversal will occur, and it is going to be pretty stable,” Mr Ofori-Atta stated.
Speaking with Journalists in Accra, this past Wednesday, the 13th of March 2019, Mr. Ofori-Atta said the system/economy is awaiting a humongous injection of $4.6 billion before the second quarter of the year to help fix its ails.
He also informed the gathering that government like an expectant mother is expecting about $900 million funding for the COCOBOD and an additional $750 million bridge financing intended to cover the government’s short-term expenses. Many are wondering about where the new bridge will be located and built.
“Today as we speak, we launched our Eurobond, which would officially be close to $3 billion,” Mr Ofori-Atta announced.
CEDI NOT CHEAPEST
Mr. Ofori-Atta expressed disagreement with some international news portals, who in their desire to pile-up on the Cedi’s reverberating misery have issued dubious publications that the Cedi is the cheapest currency on the continent.
He reiterated recent claims from the President and Vice President that the fundamentals of the economy are strong, despite the recent spasmodic and diarrhea-like behavior of the Cedi. He noted that inflation is presently in the single digits while growth stands tall at six percent.
Advice to Ghanaians
He urged Ghanaians to stop badmouthing and browbeating the current exertions of the Cedi, and to stop repeating after others that it is the cheapest on the continent. It is a very unhealthy thing to do, he noted, when juxtaposed with the economy:
“… the truth of the matter is to look at the fundamentals.”
His admonition comes on the heels of recent attempts by several unemployed armchair economists, some of whom in the interest of political partisanship have taken to the prostitulization, postulation and pontification of all kinds of economic theories as the ailment and remedy to all things presently unfruitful about the current value of the Cedi.
Public reaction
Public reaction has been glum and full of spirited witticism. A comment from one Nana Kwaku Mahatma on Facebook to the latest stopgap effort sums up the cylindrous nature of the cyclical battle ahead for the Cedi comptrollers:
” Don’t we love Ghana? We borrow to stabilize the Cedi (note, not to make it better) against other currencies and pay back the borrowing to destabilize it (at maturity).”
A video from the Joy FM archives of a prosperity preacher-like sounding Vice President Dr. Bawumia, ahead of the 2016 election, spewing about the forthcoming prosperity under the NPP government has resurfaced like a bad dream and has been shared several multiplicity of times to remind all how far ‘we have come’.
Pressure on the Cedi
Recent pressure on the depreciating Cedi to put in a more spirited performance in the face of international competition and pressure saw the PoGH, Nana Akufo-Addo, a distinguished lawyer by trade step up into the Cedi limelight as he threw his full weight behind all the attempts to resuscitate the Cedi, saying at a gathering of businessmen that:
‘Very soon, we will be seeing the results of our policy’.
However, the for now seemingly untamable and soft-mouthed Cedi has since shot up to 1 USD = 5.6200 GHS and 1 GBP = 7.4794 from last week’s stance of GHS 1 USD = 5.49993 GHS and 1 GBP = 7.2660 GHS, according to information from the exchange site finder.com
Earlier attempts, including supplications to the high heavens from some of the devout and powerful preachers of the land are yet to be fulfilled, but then, what is prayer without waiting?
Since taking hold of the economy in January of 2017, the NPP led government’s attempt to tame what they described as the runaway Cedi, which was then trading under $4.00 to 1 USD has been a mixed bag.
Overall, many Ghanaians remain optimistic, but are wary of some African currencies smelling blood in the water and turning unneighborly against the Cedi, as they start to strut their chest in full public view, compare themselves against the Cedi, tell their countrymen/women, how better they are than the Cedi, and about how far they have come!
Disclosure: This odd news report is just a parody, it is not aimed at fanning the Cedi flames, and is written with no malice intended.
