By Gifty Boateng
Businessman and media owner, Dr Kwaku Oteng, appears to be heaving a sigh of relief following the impressive appreciation of the national currency, the Cedi.
The business mogul has disclosed that since he was born there was no year he struggled to stay well composed like the year 2024.
“My most difficult year was last year, 2024. It was too difficult”. Adding “Since I started the journey of life, it was last year that was the most difficult; it was really a bad year”.
The national currency for some weeks now has been appreciating against the dollar despite its downward trend last year. As at December 2024, it stood at 15.11 against the dollar, a situation many especially businesses cried about.
But about two month ago, it has been on the ascendancy leading to reduction of petroleum products, lorry fares, commodities among others. As at the time of filing this report, the Cedi which has been described as the best performing currency globally by Bloomberg, is a little above Ghc10 to a dollar.
Speaking a recent interview, Dr Oteng said his business almost came to its knees as a result of the free fall of the Cedi against major currencies especially the US dollar.
Dr Oteng who owns the Angel Group of Companies, the mother company for Angel FM and Television and alcoholic beverage Adonko Bitters said his businesses suffered to stay afloat. He has 5, 000 people on his payroll.
Opening up for the first time on his businesses especially Adonko Bitters, a brand that has become a household name both home and beyond, he said the business went through the most turbulent period stemming from the cedi’s depreciation.
He recalled the challenges started from 2022, where the dollar depreciated so much, making prices of goods and services skyrocketing in an unprecedented fashion.
You recall that at the time, the situation became so serious that people started to hoard items while consumers rushed across the country to buy foodstuffs at very exorbitant prices.
He said the situation continued all the way to 2024 because the dollar and euro which he use to import appreciated so much.
He lamented that he used these two currencies to import most of the materials from Canada and Netherlands.
In a rare conversation on Angel FM/Television morning show, Dr Oteng summed up the situation saying “You know the business that we do government helps it growth but the rate at which the dollar appreciated from 2022 speaking the truth it did not help businesses at all. It’s difficult to speak the truth as a businessman it becomes difficult to speak out but 2024 as a very challenging year for me”.
“The rate at which the dollar moved you know the dollar was around then it moved to 12 to 13 to 14 to 17. But most of the materials we use we import them. Something like the alcohol we purchase from Canada and Holland. In Holland we use euros to buy while in Canada use dollar so image the way the dollar and euro appreciated…..?” he added.
While some have applauded him for gathering courage to speak up, others too have blamed him for keeping quiet while the government went on policies that kept hurting the economy.
Though a businessman, Dr Oteng is said to have political ties with the now opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).
His daughter Francisca Oteng-Mensah was an NPP Member of Parliament (MP) for the Kwabre East constituency, until she opted not to seek reelection due to alleged political reasons.
The names of Dr Oteng and his daughter mysteriously appeared in the controversial ‘Agyapadie’ document where it was alleged the then governing party was scheming to ensure the two times MP is ousted from the parliamentary primaries and her father’s businesses deliberately collapsed.
Even though their names were explicitly mentioned, they never commented on the document which became a hot material ahead of last year’s general elections.