BREAKING: Renowned US Economist Prof Steve Hanke To Storm Accra

Renown Internatonational Economist Prof Steve Hanke is set to arrive in Accra for a round table economic discourse, MyNewsGh.com has learnt.

The professor of Applied Economics at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland who is also a senior fellow and director of the Troubled Currencies Project at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, DC will be hosted in Accra by Ghana’s Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA), sources told MyNewsGh.com.

The forum to be addressed by Prof Steve Hanke is expected to be a frank academic debate and discussion on some of the theories and solutions to the current economic problems of Ghana.

Prof Hanke who is a co-director of the Johns Hopkins University’s Institute for Applied Economics will be joining a panel with IEA Research Boss Dr. John Kwakye, IEA Senior Economic Fellows Dr. Eric Osei Assibey, Prof Alex Darko, Prof John Asafu Adjaye among others.

The date and time of the event is yet to be made public.

Prof Hanke who has in the last couple of months been critical of the Akufo-Addo government’s management of the economy is expected to debate his proposition for the introduction of a currency board as a solution to the free fall of the Cedi against major trading currencies.

Steve  Hanke has been considered by many as a serial critic of the Ghana Government blaming Ken Ofori-Atta and Akufo-Addo for deliberate mismanagement and cluelessness in economic management.

“By my calculations, the Ghanaian Cedi has depreciated 34.17% against the USD since Jan. 2020, which is why Ghana is in 15th place in this week’s Hanke’s #Currency Watchlist,” one of his tweets said.

“To save the cedi,” he said, “Ghana must mothball its central bank and install a #CurrencyBoard.”

Prof. Steve Hanke is a professor of applied economics] at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He is also a senior fellow and director of the Troubled Currencies Project at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, DC, and co-director of the Johns Hopkins University’s Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise in Baltimore, Maryland.

Hanke is known for his work as a currency reformer in emerging-market countries. He was a senior economist with President Ronald Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers from 1981 to 1982, and has served as an adviser to heads of state in countries throughout Asia, South America, Europe, and the Middle East. He is also known for his work on currency boards, dollarization, hyperinflation, water pricing and demand, benefit-cost analysis, privatization, and other topics in applied economics.

Hanke has written extensively as a columnist for Forbes, The National Review, and other publications. He is also a currency and commodity trader. Hanke has been accused of spreading disinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and was listed as a Russian propagandist by the Ukrainian government.