The Minister of Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adamu, has criticised the Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, for encouraging people to buy dollars to run their businesses.
Dr Amin Adamu accused Mr Adongo of trying to devalue the Ghanaian cedi and cause it to depreciate further.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, July 1, Dr. Amin Adamu, who is also the Member of Parliament for Caraga, said the behaviour of his colleague and friend was inappropriate.
He claimed Adongo’s comments were deliberately made to stoke negative sentiment over the recent appreciation of the local currency.
Despite these remarks, Dr Amin Adamu assured the public and the business community that the cedi is gradually improving compared to the same period last year.
He stressed that with the receipt of the fourth tranche of the IMF loan and the completion of the debt restructuring program, the cedi is expected to grow significantly.
Dr Amin Adamu attributed the Cedi’s positive performance to President Akufo-Addo’s exemplary leadership and the support of Ghanaians to the government’s initiatives.
He urged the public to continue to have confidence in the measures being taken to stabilise and strengthen the country’s currency.
“We have said many times that the cedi problem is also largely due to speculation. So we are trying to influence market sentiment in a positive way, but we also know that someone else is stoking speculation. We had information that people were deliberately stoking speculation, but as we saw just a couple of days ago, we did not take it very realistically.”
“When my good friend and brother, Isaac Adongo, called on people to buy dollars for business, it was after I had indicated at a town hall meeting in the UK that with all the policies we are implementing and the expectation of external capital inflows and the completion of debt restructuring with bilateral creditors and Eurobond holders, the cedi was going from strength to strength. My brother was urging people to ignore Amin Adam and buy dollars,” he said.
The Finance Minister also said Ghana’s economy was showing strong signs of recovery.
He highlighted positive economic indicators for the first quarter of 2024, suggesting a good outlook for the remainder of the year.
Dr. Amin Adam stressed that the overall macroeconomic environment remains stable as the government continues to implement the IMF-supported program.
The announcement came after the IMF’s Executive Board completed the second review of Ghana’s $3 billion, 36-month Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement.
“As we have heard from our two distinguished speakers so far, growth has proven more resilient and stronger than initially projected, and the economy continues to show strong signs of recovery, particularly in the first quarter of 2024,” Dr Adamu said.
“The results are noteworthy. Overall, real GDP growth in the first quarter of 2024 was 4.7%, the highest since the first quarter of 2022. This growth rate is better than the 3.1% growth rate recorded in the same period in 2023,” he added.
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