Former Trade Minister and senior NDC member Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah has dismissed suggestions that the recent appreciation of the Ghana cedi is artificial. He praised the performance of the local currency under President John Mahama’s administration, saying the gains reflect deliberate economic management.

Speaking to JoyNews in Abidjan during an exclusive interview with JoyNews’ Blessed Sogah, set to air later tonight on Upfront, he pointed to recent price drops across the country as clear signs of an economy on the rebound, attributing the cedi’s gains to sound government action.

“It’s the first time in a long time, at least in my generation, I’m 70 plus years old, that prices are coming down, fuel prices are coming down, spare parts prices are coming down, and even traders are appealing to each other,” he said.

He continued by referencing a recent grassroots campaign by traders urging lower prices. “There are videos online that we are all reading about traders knocking their buckets and clanging their horns, saying ‘time to reduce prices, reduce prices, and reduce prices, ‘Teso’, ‘Teso’, ‘Teso’. I mean ‘Teso’ has now become a national slogan, you know, for price reductions. And most people have not seen price reductions in a long time for any kind of goods and services.”

Dr Spio-Garbrah described the local currency’s appreciation as historic and remarkable. “So that’s a great time for any economy and at the rate at which the cedi-dollar exchange rate is progressing, 10 cedis to a dollar, I mean, that’s something that nobody has ever thought or even could have predicted in general this year, it is a major achievement,” he said.

He also challenged those who suggested the gains are not genuine. “If it’s artificial, why didn’t that occur last year under the NPP? If it’s so artificial, any magician should just pull that ratio out of the hat and then have five cedis to a five-to-one exchange rate. But it takes intelligence, it takes capacity, it takes experience to know how to juggle or massage the economic activities.”

Dr. Spio-Garbrah also responded to recent comments by former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who recently claimed that the current government has done nothing to influence the current gains.

“If there’s a policy that lets us reduce inflation. Is that not a policy? You think a policy has to be written in a book? In his knowledge, that’s policy. The word policy, one sentence can be a policy.”

He expanded further on the idea of what constitutes a policy, saying, “The government of Ghana is against abuse of office. It’s a policy. But how many words or paragraphs or books or pages does a policy have to have in its knowledge, academic knowledge?

"Because a policy doesn’t have to be 20 pages. There’s nothing anywhere in the world and you can Google it that says a policy must be 20 pages, 50 pages, and 10 paragraphs. No. A policy is a statement of fact that this government will not tolerate abuse of office,” he said.

The full interview with Dr Spio-Garbrah airs tonight on Upfront with Blessed Sogah on JoyNews.