Currency News For January 20th 2020

The Ghanaian Cedi, this week, maintained its recent resilient performance as it posted its second consecutive week-on-week gain against its three major trading partner currencies on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com). On the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi posted a mixed performance against the US Dollar, the British Pound Sterling, and the Euro. The Cedi which ended 2019 with its worst performance since 2015 has gained momentum in recent times recovering parts of losses made last year as demand pressures moderates. On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, it traded at a 3-week, 4-week, and 6-week highs against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively at the start of the week.

The Cedi’s performance at the start of the week comes at a time when the government in a move to establish a long-term strategy for ensuring a stable Cedi has inaugurated a committee tasked to investigate the structural causes of the depreciation of the local currency and propose solutions. The Committee, Foreign Exchange Development Committee, draws its members from key sectors of the economy including the ministry of finance, trade & industry, and agriculture, the BoG, industrial unions among others. The committee will work to complement the efforts of the BoG to curb the perennial depreciation of the Cedi against its major trading pairs.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi gained 0.05% and 0.54%, week-on-week, to trade at GHC 5.5370 and GHC 6.1350 at the start of the week from previous week’s trade values of GHC 5.5396 and GHC 6.1683 against the Dollar and the Euro respectively. The greenback lost against the Cedi despite a series of positive US data that painted a strong US economic picture. US homebuilding data rose to a 13-year high whilst retail sales increased for a third consecutive time in December. Though the Dollar gained against several trading pairs, it failed to build on previous week’s gain against the Cedi. Against the Pound, the Cedi lost by 0.09% to begin the week trading at GHC 7.1969 from GHC 7.1904 recorded the previous week.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi gained GHC 0.37%, 0.42%, and GHC 0.71% to trade at GHC 5.6668, GHC 7.3657, and GHC 6.2856 at the start of the week from previous week’s trade values of GHC 5.6881, GHC 7.3965, and GHC 6.3305 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Pound lost against a basket of currencies including the Cedi after UK consumer prices data disappointed which further increased fears of a rate cut. This together with weaker-than-expected economic growth, industrial production data and retail sales data have encouraged Pound selling.

According to the Bank of Ghana inter-bank rates, the Ghanaian Cedi began 2020 at GHC 5.5370 [January 2nd, 2020] against the US Dollar and is currently selling at GHC 5.5370 [January 20th, 2020] indicating a 0.00% year-to-date performance. Similarly, on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Ghanaian Cedi traded at GHC 5.6961 [January 2nd, 2020] and is currently trading at GHC 5.6668 [January 20th, 2020], representing a 0.51% year-to-date appreciation of the Cedi against the US Dollar.