The Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, criticized MP for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, for allegedly promoting dollar purchases for business operations.

Dr. Amin Adam accused Mr. Adongo of undermining the Ghanaian Cedi and worsening its depreciation.

During a press conference on Monday, July 1, Dr. Amin Adam, also representing Karaga, deemed his colleague's actions inappropriate.

He asserted that Mr. Adongo's remarks were intentionally aimed at stirring negative sentiments against the recent strengthening of the local currency.

However, Dr. Amin Adam assured the public and business community that the Cedi has shown gradual improvement compared to the same period last year.

He highlighted that the Cedi is set for significant growth, supported by the upcoming fourth tranche of the IMF loan and the completion of the debt restructuring program.

Dr. Amin Adam credited President Akufo-Addo's leadership and the support of Ghanaians for the positive performance of the Cedi.

He urged citizens to maintain confidence in the government's efforts to stabilize and strengthen the national currency.

"We have said over and over that the problem with the Cedi can also be largely attributed to speculation, and therefore while we’ve been making efforts to influence market sentiments positively, we also know that some other people are inciting speculation. We have had intelligence that people have been deliberately inciting speculation but we never got it too real as we saw only two or three days ago."

"When my good friend and brother Isaac Adongo went out there urging people to buy dollars to do their business and this was after I indicated at a town hall meeting in the UK that with all the policies we are implementing and with the flows that we are expecting from external sources and with the completion of the debt restructuring with our bilateral official creditors and Eurobond holders, we saw the Cedi becoming stronger and stronger. My brother went out there to say people should ignore Amin Adam and go out there and buy dollars," he said.

The Finance Minister additionally remarked on Ghana's economy displaying robust signs of recovery.

He pointed out encouraging economic metrics for the first quarter of 2024, indicating a promising outlook for the rest of the year.

Dr. Amin Adam underscored the ongoing stability of the macroeconomic environment as the government persists in implementing the IMF-backed program.

This announcement follows the completion of the IMF Executive Board's second review of Ghana’s US$3 billion, 36-month Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Arrangement.

"Growth, as we've heard from the previous two distinguished speakers, is proving to be more resilient and robust than initially programmed, and the economy continues to show strong signs of recovery, particularly in the first quarter of 2024," stated Dr Adam.

"The results were remarkable. Overall, real GDP growth for quarter one of 2024 was 4.7%, the highest since quarter one of 2022. This growth performance is better than the 3.1% growth recorded in the same period in 2023," he added.