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Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says "the chaotic battle in Parliament" as well as other factors led to the lack of investor confidence.

Dr Bawumia who was giving reasons for the depreciation of the cedi said the brawl in Parliament, delays in implementing major tax reforms, credit rating downgrade by Fitch and Moodys "resulted in an unwillingness of foreign investors to roll over holdings of domestic debt".

The "Economic Messiah" as he is called by some members of the NPP communication team speaking at a forum held by TESCON, the students wing of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Thursday, April 7 said: "The chaotic battle in parliament over the budget created uncertainty and signalled to the markets that the government may not be able to get most of its programs passed in a tightly balanced parliament. This further reinforced the lack of confidence investors had in the budget."

“Furthermore, delays in implementing major tax reforms such as the benchmark policy reversal, tax exemptions bill, common platform for property tax, and the review of fees and charges appeared to support the assessment of the market that the government will have difficulty in getting its programs through parliament. To add to this negative market sentiment, there was a sovereign credit rating downgrade by Fitch and Moodys as a result of concerns about fiscal and debt sustainability. This resulted in an unwillingness of foreign investors to roll over holdings of domestic debt. They demanded foreign exchange to repatriate their investments,” he added.

Economic hardship

Meanwhile, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has admitted the challenges and economic hardship Ghanaians are going through.

“From the man on the streets to the business mogul, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the shelter we seek or have, to the benevolence we extend to friends and family, the health of the economy is the cardinal instrument. To bring this home, essentially the economy is what we feel in our pockets. I acknowledge that times are hard. This is the reality irrespective of the cause . . . Today our economy is witnessing rising prices of fuel, and virtually all commodities like bread, rice, sugar, sachet water, cement, iron rods, and so on . . . Even the price of my favorite 'Kofi Brokeman' and kenkey are seeing price increases. These are the stark realities that confront us today,” he said.

According to him, Ghana "is directly affected by the Russia-Ukraine war" however, government has introduced measures to reduce the hardship.

“The increase in commodity prices has been exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The longer the conflict the greater will be the disruptions to global food supply. In Ghana for example, 30% of our cereal grains, wheat flour and fertilizer is from Russia. 60% of iron rods and metal sheets imports is from Ukraine. 20% of Ghana's manganese exports is to Ukraine. . . So we are directly affected by the Russia-Ukraine war. Unfortunately, we do not know when it will be over..." he added.