Cedi depreciation: We’re putting in place measures to protect poor – Finance Minister

The Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, has disclosed that the government has put in place steps to halt the Ghana cedi from depreciating further.

Over the past few weeks, the cedi has shown relative weakness against major currencies and presently sells at approximately GHC 15.5 to a dollar.

However, speaking to the press on Friday, May 24, 2024, as part of his monthly engagements with the media, Dr. Adams asserted that urgent measures are being put in place to stem the cedi fall, which will in turn bring down fuel prices.

He said that the government plans to increase spending on social interventions to help the poor and vulnerable cope with the temporary costs associated with its policies aimed at bolstering the strength of the local currency.

“So the measures that we have put in place to address the problems associated with the depreciation of the cedi, but let me also say that because of our realisation that some of the policies we have implemented will have some effects and then one day will mature, then the positive gains will emerge from those, and that is why the government has increased spending on social interventions to help the poor and vulnerable in particular cope with the temporary costs associated with our policies while we all wait to see how these policies will endure eventually,” he said.

He said if the government does not increase spending on the part of the poor and vulnerable in society, it will mean that the government is being insensitive, and those within this bracket will be exposed.

Minister Adam stated that the government has been negotiating with the IMF to establish benchmarks that will ultimately provide some cushion for the poor against any hardships they may face during the programme.

“Gone were the days when you embarked on the IMF programme; you know it was just austerity, but we have been very intentional this time around in negotiating the IMF so that we will have bench marks and now forgive us on certain levels of spending on social interventions. This is in order for people to be somehow insulated from the effects the programme policies could have on them.”

He also revealed that the government is actively working with the Bank of Ghana to combat inflation, acknowledging its severe impact on the economy.

“We have also indexed it [the current inflation rate] to high inflation because we are in an era of high inflation. We know that the government acknowledges that inflation was around 54% now is 25% and with 25% is still high, and this is what we admit, and this is why we are working hard with the Bank of Ghana to ensure that inflation at the end of this year reduces to 15% and to 8% +/- 2% by 2025,” the Minister explained.