By Deputy Minister for Finance, Dr. Stephen Amoah, has clarified that his comment on the Cedi’s depreciation being a ritual problem was taken out of context.
Dr. Amoah lamented what he termed a deliberate attempt by certain individuals in the media, whom he claimed are notorious for quoting interviewees out of context.
During an interview with Bernard Avle on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM, the Nhyiaeso MP stated, “We have a country where anybody says anything and they [some media persons] take a part and do stories and create a whole thing out of it and a time will come when it will be difficult to freely grant interviews.”
In response to a question on how best to address the Cedi’s depreciation from a reporter on Wednesday, May 29, Dr. Amoah remarked, “Cedi depreciation is a ritual problem, I agree with you. It is not because of one particular government. It is an issue that is nationalistic or that needs nationalistic attention.”
He added that “so far as we keep on being an importer-driven economy, we will be having problems with the Cedi because we import almost everything. But Inshallah, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, next year, if he comes, we are going to design a long-term framework to deal with the Cedi [depreciation].”
Dr. Amoah sought to clarify his statement from Wednesday, emphasizing that he was suggesting the most effective strategy and personnel to address the decline of the Cedi against major trading currencies.
“I went to monitor the voter registration exercise and they [media] asked me about the dollar and the Cedi’s depreciation and all that I said was that from now till December, we are doing our best to stabilise the Cedi, which I said is a short-term approach, but we need a long-term approach to resolve the issue through a framework, and then I proposed that to achieve that, we will design a long-term approach when Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is elected president.”
