The Food and Beverages Association of Ghana (FABAG) has criticized Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia for his inability to stabilize the depreciation of the cedi.
This comes on the back of the Ghana Union of Traders Association’s (GUTA) closure of shops within the capital, Accra to protest the prevailing harsh economic conditions of the country.
The protest is intended to push the government to urgently address the depreciating cedi, high-interest rate, and soaring inflation.
Speaking on the Morning Starr with Francis Abban Wednesday, the Secretary to the Food and Beverages Association, Sam Aggrey said Food and Beverages Association is in full support of GUTA’s action.
“Because if you look at the way things are happening, our business capital is dwindling. If you take the cedi investment and the rate at which it keeps depreciating, therefore one cannot say that we have to be silent and sit down without doing anything for the government to know that we are serious bodies.
“We were expecting that the government will announce certain remedies that will actually revert this trend of depreciation. Unfortunately, we’ve not heard anything, so once the government understands the closure of shops or strike that is the way we’ll communicate to him for him to know that there is a real problem on the ground,” Mr. Aggrey stated.
Touching on the cedi depreciation, Mr. Aggrey asked the government to fix the fast deprecation of the cedi to ease burdens on businesses.
“If they are not doing anything about this situation then they need not be in power. The Vice President assured that the cedi has been arrested and the key given to the IGP and therefore there is nothing like the cedi depreciation.
“At least if it should depreciate, it should be slow but it is skyrocketing. He (Bawumia) is the same person who said if the fundamentals are weak the cedi will expose you. This is what we have been experiencing for the past year. What is he doing about it,” the secretary to FABAG questioned.
He added: “So we are asking them to wake up if they are sleeping then they should wake up and solve the problem. Because we are suffering and our investment cannot dwindle just like that. We need investors to come into this country and invest and if this is the way things are going to be then they have no business to be in power.”