Debt Crisis Looms In Ghana’s Already Distressed Economy - Professor Hanke Predicts

• Ghana is likely to be hit with a debt crisis in the coming days, according to Prof Steve Hanke
• The US-based applied economist also disclosed that he has added the Ghana cedi to his list of junk currencies
• While Bloomberg says the cedi has fallen by 45.1% from January to October 2022 to become the worst performing currency in the world, Prof Hanke tweeted that the depreciation was 48% by his estimation

US-based applied economics Professor Steve Hanke has said Ghana is highly susceptible to a debt crisis in the coming days.

The John Hopkins University professor said the Ghana cedi has depreciated by over 48% since January 2020 by his estimations. Bloomberg estimated that it the cedi has fallen by 45.1% to become the worst performing currency against the dollar.

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According to the economist who has been following Ghana’s economy with keen interest, the cedi has become a junk currency.

“A debt crisis looms on the horizon in #Ghana. Since January 1st, 2020, the #cedi has depreciated over 48%. Thanks to Ghana, my rogue’s gallery of JUNK CURRENCIES just keeps growing,” Prof Hanke wrote on October 24, 2022.

Professor Hanke was reacting to a story by Bloomberg that said the local currency fell by 9.5% last Thursday, the biggest slide in 22 years.

Cedi Depreciation: IEA Director Backs Prof Hanke’s Proposal For Currency Board To Save Struggling Currency

Meanwhile, a proposal by Prof Hanke for Ghana to scrap the central bank and set up a currency board to strengthen the cedi against the dollar is getting support.

Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a civil society organisation, Dr John Kwakye, has said Prof Hanke’s proposal is worth considering.

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Breaking: 80 Majority MPs want Ofori-Atta sacked as Finance Minister

Dr Kwakye said a monetary system that is supervised a currency board is capable of bringing lasting stability to the local currency.

80 MPs Want Finance Minister And His Deputy Removed From Office

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh has reported that majority members of parliament have asked president Nana Akufo-Addo to sack his finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

The NPP MPs also want the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen, dismissed immediately.

The MPs made the announcement to the media in Parliament on Tuesday, October 25, 2022, in what many say is an unprecedented turn of events.

Source: YEN.com.gh