[ 2012-08-02 ]

Vice Presidential Nominee, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur

Depreciation of cedi this year is not 'untypical' - Amissah-Arthur
Vice Presidential Nominee, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur
has spoken for the first time after his selection
by the President, defending the massive
depreciation of the Cedi against the dollar this
year.

In an exclusive interview with Citi FM, Mr
Amissah-Arthur said policies engineered under his
tenure as governor largely stabilized the
currency.

His comments come in the wake of massive public
criticism over the depreciation of the Cedi which
hit almost 20 percent by the end of the second
quarter.

Mr. Amissah Arthur however says monitory policies
instituted under his watch have largely worked.

“I know that the record of the cedi will be an
issue in this election but every election year in
this country, from 1992 to date, the cedi has been
destabilized. Really if you look at the data, this
is the year where it has been lowest. In other
years there has been a 60% depreciation, a 40%
depreciation in an election year. So we have
learnt lessons from those depreciations and not
all of them are economic factors.”

“The problem this year was that it started much
earlier than in previous elections years and the
political business cycle has been used as an
explanation for some of the things that are
happening.”

“I think that we have done quite tremendous work
in stabilizing the cedis as it is. As of now we
are talking something like 17% depreciation year
to date which, in an election year is not
untypical”

Source - Citifmonline

... go Back