Business News of Tuesday, 19 March 2019

Source: peacefmonline.com

'Economy is in tatters; nothing is working , Gov't just giving us false hope' - Kwakye Ofosu

Former Deputy Minister of Information, Felix Kwakye Ofosu Former Deputy Minister of Information, Felix Kwakye Ofosu

Former Deputy Minister of Information, Felix Kwakye Ofosu has taken a swipe at the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) describing them as the “worst managers of the economy since the advent of the Fourth Republic”.

According to him, if the NPP had good economic Managers, the cedi which continues to depreciate would have shot up by now.

The cedi has depreciated against the US dollar from GHc 4.8 to over GHc 5.7 since the beginning of the year sparking concern in the business community, both locally and internationally.

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta announcing government’s short term intervention to save the cedi said “we are going after; $300 million, $600 million and another $750 million and 3 billion and [I think] we should be okay. And all of this should happen within the next two or so weeks.”

Speaking to this during a panel discussion on Adom TV’s 'Badwam' program, Tuesday, Felix Ofosu Kwakye said government is ‘deceiving’ Ghanaians and that the short term measures will not solve the actual cause of the depreciation.

According to him, “it is not true the cedi is gaining weight . . . they are not being truthful to Ghanaians . . . the economy is in tatters; nothing is working . . . they are just giving us false hope . . . if they claim some money is coming to shoot up the cedi, they are deceiving you . . . the reality on the ground is different….”

He further asked the NPP who praised themselves as economic gurus to “admit and accept that they have failed; they claimed they had economic Managers . . . they have brought untold hardship upon Ghanaians.. They should be truthful to Ghanaians so that we will know what to do; because it is going to get tougher".

However, the NPP National Youth Organizer, Henry Nana Boakye, popularly known as Nana B disagreed.



He said even though he is not happy with the depreciation of the cedi, when it comes to economic Managers, “NPP are better managers of the economy” than the NDC.

Meanwhile, Nana B is confident with the measures government is putting in place, the cedi will appreciate soon.