President John Mahama has said that the main objective of his government in respect of the value of the cedi is to ensure that it does not depreciate as it did in 2024.
According to him, what his economic managers are doing is to stabilise to currency to make for effective economic planning.
“I believe that it is about stopping the rapid depreciation of the cedi,” he said in an answer to a question posed by TV3’s Keminni Amanor at a media encounter on September 10 at the Jubilee House.
Keminni sought to know why the cedi’s recent appreciation has reversed suddenly.
President Mahama recalled his earlier statement that the real value of the currency lies between GHC10 and GHC12.
“The cedi is making an adjustment, and it will settle at a certain rate,” he assured.
The cedi is currently trading at GHC12 to $1 interbank, down from about GHC14 in January when the current administration took over.
Addressing concerns that the previous appreciation of the cedi was facilitated by the Bank of Ghana, he said the central bank has ceased intervening in the performance of the cedi.
“The Bank of Ghana has been intervening, but they have withdrawn,” he stated.
President John Mahama also used the opportunity to state that contrary to what his government’s critics anticipated, the Free Senior High School policy has been strengthened.
According to him, contrary to the expectation by members of the opposition New Patriotic Party that his government will cancel the policy, it has rather been enhanced.
“We have strengthened Free SHS by allocating an amount of GHc3.5 billion to the policy this year,” he said on September 10.
The President was addressing journalists at the Jubilee House, his first media encounter since assuming the presidency on January 7.
The Free SHS policy was fully implemented by the NPP administration in 2017. In the lead up to the 2024 elections, then candidate Mahama said he will review the policy if elected.
This was interpreted by the NPP officials and members of the administration as an intention to cancel the policy. But President Mahama said, “measures are in place to improve the feeding aspect of the programme.”
Under the policy, every child in Ghana who qualifies for, and is placed in a public Senior High School for his secondary education will have his/her fees absorbed by the government.
President Mahama also indicated that government will soon identify the way forward for the Agenda 111 projects embarked upon by the previous administration.
“Cabinet is expecting a report from the Minister of Health on the Agenda 111 project to determine the way forward,” he said.
