The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta says although the cedi has come under extreme external pressure in the last six weeks, its performance in the past 18 months under the Akufo-Addo-led administration is one of the best.

If compared to the same period in the previous administration, the cedi’s performance against the dollar on the average, the Minister noted has been remarkable.

“Mr Speaker, the performance of the Ghana cedi in the 18 months of the Akufo-Addo government has been impressive if compared with the last six years,” he said during his presentation of the mid-year budget review in Parliament.

Quoting figures to back his claims the Minister said the year on year depreciation of the cedi against the US dollar stood at 4.9 percent in 2017 from a 9.7 percent in 2016, 15.7 percent in 2015 and 31.3 percent in 2014 and 70.5 percent in 2012.

The Minister’s comments come at a time when there are concerns of a depreciating cedi. Spare part importers have complained that although the removal of taxes on their imports brought some relief, the recent depreciation of the cedi is affecting their business.

Research seems to back the Minister's claims. Recent research by GN Research shows that despite the current depreciation, its performance in 2018 is better compared to 2016 and 2017.

By June 20, 2016, the Cedi had lost 2.83%, 2.86% and 6.88% of its value against the dollar, pound and the euro respectively and 3.45%, 5.61% and 9.07% by June 20 2017. As of June 20, 2018, the cedi had depreciated by 1.11% against the dollar but gained 1.32% and 2.38% against the pound and euro respectively.

Mr Ofori-Atta noted that a “further interrogation of the data from the Bank of Ghana shows that the depreciation at the first six months of 2018 has been the best since 2012.”

“…It means that the 2018 performance of the cedi is likely to be better than even the 4.9 percent we experienced in 2017 which was an all-time low compared to the four years of the Mahama administration,” headed.