General News of Monday, 17 September 2018
Source: Graphic.com.gh
2018-09-17
Augustus Goosie Tanoh
A founding member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and presidential hopeful, Augustus Goosie Tanoh says Ghana’s economy is in disarray.
Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen radio programme on Monday, the former flagbearer of the defunct National Reform Party said challenges like excessive imports without value is the reason the cedi has depreciated.
“We have had a good rating before as far as our economy is concerned but the problem with us is that we don’t produce what we eat. I think the economy is not responding to the things we need because we end up importing everything,” he observed.
“We have de-industrialized and that means it will put pressure on the cedi and that is what’s happening now with our cedi,” he added.
The local currency continued its rapid nosedive since the start of September, losing 0.9 percent of its value to the dollar to sell at 4.8378 on Thursday.
The cedi has lost almost 7 per cent of its value against the strong dollar since the beginning of the year, prompting fears of dire consequences to the Ghanaian.
But Mr Tanoh urged the government and its agencies to, as a matter of urgency, focus on the bigger picture and stop politicizing the issue which to him, will ease the pressure on the cedi.
He noted that if some goods can be produced and consumed locally, then the country should be able to produce same and not import.
“If we can produce certain basic goods that we consume locally, it means that we will not have to import those goods. We must begin to learn and create entrepreneurship,” he said.