Economic Advisor to the Vice President, Prof. Sharif Khalid Mahmud, has criticised former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s assertion that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government has played no role in the recent appreciation of the Ghanaian cedi.
The former Vice President and NPP flagbearer, on a Thank You Tour in the UK, told members of the Young Executive Forum (YEF) in London that the NDC had not implemented a single policy that could explain the currency’s recent gains.
“They cannot tell you one such policy,” Dr Bawumia insisted, dismissing suggestions that the opposition’s actions had contributed to stabilizing the exchange rate.
But Prof Khalid, speaking on Citi Eyewitness News on Tuesday, May 20, called the statement misleading and unfair.
“To say that the NDC or the current administration did nothing is a bit disingenuous,” he argued. “Because I heard him talk about paying contractors or spending—if you commit to an IMF loan facility that you have to service, is that not a commitment?”
He stressed that the current government is managing several fiscal responsibilities inherited from the previous administration, all of which influence economic performance.
“If you commit to a DDEP [Domestic Debt Exchange Programme], which was inherited, is that not big-ticket spending? If you activate a sinking fund to consolidate and insulate against all of this, is that not big-ticket spending? So I don’t know where this is actually coming from,” Prof Khalid said.
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