Respected privately held financial software, data, and media company, Bloomberg, which is headquartered in the U.S has described the cedi as the world's worst performing currency this year.

The statement which was made by Bloomberg, ahead of the Finance Minister's appointment to read the budget tomorrow, Thursday, March 2, 2017 at the Parliament House.

The statement further allayed fears of the Government's ability to fulfill huge promises of Free Senior High School and Tax cut made by the current administration in the run-up to the December Polls amidst discovery of about 7 billion cedis ($1.5 billion) in unplanned spending by the previous administration. That startled markets, weakening the cedi and raising bond yields.

The cedi fell to record lows throughout February. It gained 1 percent to 4.65 against the dollar at 8 a.m. in Accra, paring the drop this year to 6 percent and making it the world’s worst performer this year after Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo’s currencies. Its greenback-denominated debt returned the least among African peers in the month.

Mr. Ofori-Atta said last month the government of West Africa’s biggest economy after Nigeria, led by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) , will announce tax breaks and other measures to support the private sector and help boost the economy that last year probably expanded at the slowest since 1990.

Among the NPP’s promises is a plan to spend 560 million cedis to employ some 250,000 farmers to grow crops starting this month. Free high-school education will kick in when the new academic year starts in September. President Nana Akufo-Addo wants to set up one factory in each of the nation’s 216 districts and provide $1 million to every one of the 270 parliamentary constituencies for development.

By: Farida Mohammed/ghanaguardian.com