Currency News for April 20th 2020

After weeks of posting losses against its three major trading partner currencies, the Cedi this week showed signs of traction as it posted gains across the board against the US Dollar, the British Pound Sterling, and the Euro respectively on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com). On the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi was mixed as it recovered part of previous week’s losses against the Pound and Euro but failed to record gains against the Dollar.

The Cedi’s performance this week comes after rating agency, Moody’s, affirmed Ghana’s long-term local and foreign currency issuer and foreign currency senior unsecured bond ratings at B3 while changing the outlook from positive to negative. This comes as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic is said to adversely impact the local economy and widen the fiscal gap which is currently pegged at 4.9%.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi depreciated by 0.08% against the Dollar to trade at GHC 5.5176 at the start of the week from previous week’s trade value of GHC 5.5133. The Cedi lost against the greenback as investors sought a safe haven after US crude oil futures crushed into the negative territory. Against the Pound and the Euro, the Cedi appreciated by 0.99% and 0.73% to begin the week trading at GHC 6.8716 and GHC 5.9972 from previous week’s trade figures of GHC 6.9406 and GHC 6.0411 respectively.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi gained 1.33%, 2.29%, and 2.14% to trade at GHC 5.7574, GHC 7.1733, and GHC 6.2561 at the start of the week from previous week’s trade values of GHC 5.8348, GHC 7.3415, and GHC 6.3928 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Pound eroded some of its recent gains against the Cedi as measures to curb the spread of the pandemic in the UK begins to take a toll on the economy.

According to the Bank of Ghana inter-bank rates, the Ghanaian Cedi began the year 2020 at GHC 5.5370 [January 2nd, 2020] against the US Dollar and is currently selling at GHC 5.5176 [April 20th, 2020] indicating a 0.35% year-to-date appreciation. 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 5.7574 [April 20th, 2020], representing a 1.08% year-to-date depreciation of the Cedi against the US Dollar.