How Bawumia predicted economic recovery

Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has once again stunned observers with his economic clairvoyance after miraculously predicting Ghana’s current economic recovery during a speech delivered close to a month ago.

In the speech, Dr Bawumia acknowledged the difficult economic reality but also noted that the government has put in place policies to combat the issue and that their impact would soon be felt by the populace.

Less than a month later and all economic indices vindicate his prediction as the cedi has strongly appreciated against the $US Dollar, fuel prices have decreased and other prices of goods and services are gradually returning to a stable level.

On November 26th 2022, the Vice President addressed a grand durbar of the Chiefs and people of Suhum during the Suhum Odwira Festival, speaking under the theme, “Development in Unity”.

Bawumia confidently predicted that despite current economic difficulties, an even more stunning economic recovery is just over the horizon and would soon arrive and stun Ghanaians.

The Vice President’s confidence was reposed in the policies government had put in place to combat the economic downturn.

“We all know that currently, Ghana’s economic condition is quite difficult. Every single day, prices of goods such as petrol, rice and many others are rising. This is a global phenomenon. But in Ghana, the government is putting in place measures to combat this global phenomenon and bring relief to our people.

“We are focused on bringing solutions to these issues and very soon, these solutions would start to take effect. By the grace of God, the price of petrol would soon reduce, by the Grace of God transport fares would also reduce and by the grace of God, the prices of goods and services would also be reduced drastically because of new policies we are putting into effect. By the grace of God, we should all have patience because we are going to implement something new and the depreciation of the cedi would also be halted!” the Vice President confidently predicted.

Ghana’s stunning economic recovery In the past few weeks since Bawumia’s speech, the Ghana Cedi has been on a tear against the $ U.S. dollar, battling back to make significant gains against the greenback after a year of almost continuous depreciation.

From a low of almost Ghc 17 to a dollar, the currency has pulled back, trading at an average rate of Ghc 10.70 to the dollar on December 14th, 2022.

The recovery was so stunning that Bloomberg adjudged the cedi the best-performing currency globally against the dollar.

“The cedi has rallied 10% in the past five days, the biggest advance among about 150 currencies tracked by Bloomberg. That’s a turnaround for an exchange rate that had lost half of its value this year and occupied the bottom slot in the charts,” Bloomberg noted in a report dated December 10th 2022.

Fuel prices have also seen modest decreases in recent weeks since Bawumia’s proclamation.

Currently, prices of goods and services are slow to match the appreciation, as traders resist the urge to reduce prices. However, the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), has implored its members to reduce prices to match the new reality.

Ghana’s economic recovery is currently underway and if things remain on track, the difficulties of the past year would soon be a like a mirage on the horizon.