Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has pushed back against claims made in the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review that the recent appreciation of the cedi is historically unmatched.
Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, July 31, he argued that the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration had already stabilised the currency before exiting office.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin acknowledged the cedi’s current strength but challenged what he called a selective interpretation of the facts. He said the gains in early 2025 must be viewed within a broader economic context.
“The Minister jubilantly said ‘cedi no apicki’ as if nothing had been done before 2025. But that’s misleading,” he told Parliament. “The NPP had already managed to arrest the free-fall by the end of 2023.”
He explained that the steep depreciation in 2022 was largely driven by global factors. The cedi lost significant value amid high US interest rates and rising commodity prices triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war.
These pressures, he noted, affected many emerging economies and were not unique to Ghana.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin credited the NPP government’s policy choices for slowing the currency’s decline.
He highlighted the IMF agreement, domestic debt restructuring, and the Gold-for-Oil programme as key measures that restored some investor confidence.
“By the end of 2024, the cedi’s depreciation had slowed to just 19 percent year-on-year, compared to the free-fall the year before,” he stated.
He concluded that the current administration, led by President John Mahama, inherited a currency already on the path to recovery. He urged Parliament to assess the cedi’s performance based on long-term trends, not short-term gains.
