Information Minister-Designate, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has dismissed suggestions that President Akufo-Addo is deliberately collapsing indigenous banks in the country.
According to Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi constituency, the challenges that have bedevilled the banking sector started way before the NPP came into power.
Crisis In Fianacial Sector....Blame Gov't
The Minority in Parliament have never lost a moment to lay blame at the doorstep of the current administration for the collapse of some seven indigenious banks.
Late last year, UT Bank and Capital Bank were the first on the list of takeovers by the Bank of Ghana after it emerged the indigenous banks had fallen below the minimum capital requirement.
On August 1, 2018, almost a year to the unfortunate finanacial news, the BoG merged five local banks; Beige Bank, Construction Bank, Royal Bank, uniBank and Sovereign bank into what it calls the Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited.
Governor of the BoG, Dr Ernest Addison explained that the move was part of measures to streamline the financial sector.
Days after, the Minority in Parliament slammed government for not making the attempt to rescue the banks early enough.
Minority Spokesperson on Finance Casiel Ato Forson asserted it is unacceptable that within a period of eight months three locally owned banks had collapsed.
A Lot More Jobs Would've Been Lost If
Speaking in an intervivew with Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's morning show ‘Kokrokoo’, Monday, the Minister-designate stressed that government has saved jobs in the banking industry despite claims of jobs losses in the wake of the banking crisis.
According to him, even though some jobs have been lost in the crisis, a lot more people would have been out of work if the Central Bank had not intervened.
"It is not true government is deliberately collapsing the banking system; government is working hard in satisfying ghanaians and soon everything will be fine and just as President Akufo Addo has already indicated those responsible will be punished....It is true that some jobs have been lost but it is also true that a lot more jobs have been saved," he said.
Cedi depreciation
Touching on the cedi’s sustained depreciation to some major foreign currencies, notably the US dollar, Hon Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah asserted that though the local currency is trading at almost GHc5 to the dollar, the country is still seeing “a slower rate of depreciation.”
Currently, one dollar sells for GH¢4.95. In just two weeks, the local currency depreciated 3.03% against the US dollar.
But a 12 page report by the credit rating agency, S&P Global Ratings, published on 14th September, 2018, showed Ghana’s economic performance improved which resulted in Ghana being upgraded from B- to B.
It is stated in the report that “S&P Global Ratings raised its long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Ghana to ‘B’ from ‘B-‘”. The reputable credit rating agency added that Ghana’s “outlook is stable”.
The verdict by S&P Global ratings seems to have settled the debate on the economy in favor of the ruling NPP Government.
The Information Minister-designate was of the view that, with Ghana’s latest B rating published by Standards and Poor's (S&P) Global, “foreign investors will continue to have confidence in the economy and will help the cedi to appreciate."
He, however, cautioned against large withdrawals of cash to buy dollars and urged the general public, most especially business operators to "remain calm and believe in President Akufo-addo’s ability to fix the economy".
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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@KWAKU - For your information almost every country in the world has a creit rating (you can google credit rating of any country you like and you will know). Instead of us taking advantage of the good indicators we complain and let foreign companies come and take advantage of it and take the profits back to their countries. What ppl fail to see is that these good indicators do not translate in a day. It is what will give ppl confidence to invest in the economy - creating jobs and hopefully paying enough taxes that'll help fix the roads and improve the infrastructure.
I thought kojo his well educated young guy who speaks the truth. Unfortunately he has join the disappointed people in npp. unfortunate
Clown. Leaders of a failing start. God punish you people one by one
bogus and fo000lish leaders we have in this country. You want someone to rate you for your Cedi to have value. Ghana is in a mess and it is not because NPP is in Power but it's simply because we do not have responsible leaders. NDC is worse and thinking NPP will do something better, we are still going in circles whiles they throw figures on our faces but the reality on the ground is different. bad roads, poor infrastructure, weak systems, high interest rates etc. GOD save us.
Interestingly, the narratives have changed. Has the Cedi not depreciated before, Ghana would get loans at less interest etc. Would all these people be saying such things if it had happened under another government? One evil thing killing Ghana is the Hypocrisy. If we are able to deal with it, things can change.
ASH Yes your mother may not care about A or B rating because she may not understand it. A good rating means: 1. The country can get loans at better interest rates than before. Apart from reducing the amount that the country would have to pay in servicing it’s debt this is likely to, in turn, reduce the interest rates soap companies get on their loans to run their business. And you know what, that could bring down the price of soap as cost of production is reduced. 2. This makes companies like VW setup car assembling plants in the country because it means the economy is good. The dollar component of each care that it assembled and sold in the country is reduced (reducing trade deficit). This in turn reduces the rate at which the currency depreciates meaning the price of soap not increasing as much as before. This, I believe, is something your mother will like.
My mom wants to go to the market to buy soap at an affordable price. She does not care about A or B rating. It does not matter to her.
I get dissappointed with such biased (i believe ***barred word***) comments. Do you think companies like VW would want to invest in the country if the economy wasn't improving? About cedi depreciation, can anyone say that it has never depreciated before? You could easily lookup performance of other currencies against the dolar on google. Most of them do depreciate against the dolar. The question is not whether it depreciates or not it's about how badly it depreciates. Current figures indicate the cedi is not depreciating as badly as it used to. which is a good thing. Let's stop these voodoo analyses and be truthful to ourselves.
So this is how Government admits the Cedi has depreciated? Eeei poli-tricks, hmmm.
Oh Ghana!! Ask your finance minister - his first association with rating of Ghana's economy in the Kufuour era. He paid hard cash for the rating!!! It was NOT a fairly done assessment!! Our Cedi can not be this tattered and have a B rating!!! Lets see what other rating agencies may bring!!