The
deputy Finance Minister, Fifi Kwetey has accused the New Patriotic
Party’s vice presidential candidate, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia of double
standards for questioning the credibility of the Ghana Statistical
Service (GSS). Dr Bawumia on Wednesday raised doubts about
figures collated by the Service based upon which single digit inflation
has persisted for over 20 months now. In his delivery on the
state of Ghana’s economy at the 5th Ferdinand Ayim memorial lecture, the
former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana wondered if the Ghana
Statistical Service has been collecting the right data. But Mr.
Kwetey in an interview with XYZ News said he is surprised Dr Bawumia
relied on data from the statistical service in the past during the
Kufuor administration but is now questioning the credibility of data
collated by the same institution. "Bawumia today is doing what,
casting doubts about their [GSS] credibility. So is Bawumia calling into
question the same institution that consistently produced statistical
figures under the NPP?" He queried. He added "The same
institution that he claims that under the NPP they were able to achieve
single digit inflation for a month, today he doubts them". Mr
Kwetey also reacted to claims by Dr Bawumia that the level of
depreciation of the local currency against the dollar has never been
seen in the country. “In his 2008, the cedi depreciated by
twenty percent under his watch. In 2012 inspite of all the difficulties
the cedi has depreciated by only nine percent. “Not only did it
depreciate in 2008 by twenty percent, in the first couple of months of
2009 the calamity continued because of their terrible mess and the rot
they left behind” Fiifi Kwetey said. |
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