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General News of Wednesday, 3 April 2019

Source: kasapafmonline.com

It’s warped logic to blame cedi fall on weak fundamentals – Bawumia

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia play videoVice President Mahamudu Bawumia

Vice President has slammed the opposition NDC for what he says is the shallow critique of his popular economic jab “‘if the fundamentals are weak the exchange rate will expose you”.

The VEEP addressing a maiden Town Hall Meeting by the government’s Economic Management Team(EMT) has strongly defended that statement insisting” that was true then and its true now. It’s one hundred percent correct.”

Vice President’s words have since been thrown back at him following the drastic plummet of the cedi against major trading currencies.

Former President, John Mahama recently referenced the jabs Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia landed on him when the latter was in opposition.

According to him, the recent free fall of the cedi against all major foreign currencies, may be exposing a deeper malaise in the “fundamentals of the economy”.

But Dr. Bawumia has said the argument raised by the opposition NDC vis a vis his statement is illogical in relation to the sharp depreciation of the cedi.

“… its warped logic to jump from that to a conclusion that if there is depreciation in your currency then the fundamentals must be weak…If the fundamentals are weak the exchange rate will expose you but if the exchange rate moves you cannot jump to that conclusion that the fundamentals are weak, that defies logic. There could be other external factors causing the exchange rate depreciation. For example if i tell you that if your leg is broken, you’re going to be unable to walk, then I’m somewhere and somebody comes to tell me this person is unable to walk, can i just conclude that the leg must be broken? there could be other reasons that you’re unable to walk but the NDC will insist in the face of contrary evidence that since you cannot walk then it must mean your leg must be broken.” he said.