Renowned economist and businessman, Dr. Kofi Amoah, has expressed his agreement with the famous economic mantra by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
Then-candidate Bawumia, 2012 gave a damning verdict on Ghana’s exchange rate position and depreciation of the local currency against major trading currencies.
Speaking on the state of the economy at the time, Bawumia blamed the NDC for the free fall of the cedi where his famous ‘if the fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate will expose you’ comment was first birthed.
“The lessons from history for government is that you cannot manage the economy with propaganda… In fact, you can engage in all the propaganda want but if the fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate will expose you,” Dr Bawumia said while the crowd jeered.
“The type of free fall that we are seeing with the cedi exchange rate is a vote of no confidence by market players in the management of the economy,” he added.
Referencing a GhanaWeb story recalling what Bawumia said, Dr. Amoah, alias Citizen Kofi tweeted: "YOU CAN NOT RUN AN ECONOMY BY PROPAGANDA. IF THE FUNDAMENTALS ARE WEAK, THE EXCHANGE RATE WILL EXPOSE YOU ~ Dr M Bawumia.
"He was right in 2012 when he spoke those words n those words are true today. Let’s face the TRUTH to save Ghana!"
The cedi then and now:
At the time Bawumia made his claim, the local currency was trading at GH¢4.78 to the US dollar ending December 2012.
That year, the cedi began January selling at GH¢5.32 to the dollar but gradually recorded some marginal gains.
TWI NEWS
Meanwhile, in recent developments, the Ghana cedi has maintained its spot as the worst performing currency in Africa, according to a Bloomberg report.
The portal said the cedi recorded a -28.82 per cent depreciation to the dollar as of August 8, 2022, to sell at nearly GH¢9 to a dollar.
This means the currency could be heading for a record-worst performance in the last 25 years. The low performance of the cedi has however driven inflation to a record of 31.7 per cent in July.
