Currency News for May 10th 2021

The Cedi at the start of the week, rose against the US Dollar to recover part of previous week’s loss. The Cedi’s performance this week comes after a World Bank report revealed that remittance flows to Ghana shot up by 5% to USD 3.6 billion in 2020. A large inflow of forex into the local economy boost supply and hence helps to sustain the Cedi.

The Cedi, however, fell against the British Pound Sterling and the Euro erasing its last week’s gains against the pair. The Cedi is expected to be pressured to maintain its resilience in the remaining parts of the year after the central bank lowered its offer amount for its bi-weekly forex forward auctions,

On the Bank of Ghana inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi appreciated by 0.02% to trade at GHC 5.7340 at the start of the week from previous week’s trade value of GHC 5.7349. The greenback fell against most of its trading partner currencies after Non-Farm Payroll data missed forecasts with US unemployment rate further rising from 5.8% to 6.1%, stoking fears about the pace of economic recovery in the world’s largest economy. The Cedi plunged by 1.86% and 1.10% to begin the week trading at GHC 8.1044 and GHC 6.9685 from previous week’s opening trade values of GHC 7.9566 and GHC 6.8924.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi soared by 0.44% to begin the week at GHC 5.7699 against the Dollar from last week’s opening trade value of GHC 5.7952. Against the Pound and the Euro, the Cedi depreciated by 1.1% and 0.64%, trading at GHC 8.1328 and 7.0136 on the first trading day of the week compared with last week’s opening trade values of GHC 8.0440 and GHC 6.9688. The Pound rose to recover from its previous week’s loss against the Cedi following the continuous success in the UK vaccination program. UK authorities are planning of announcing an ease in lockdown restrictions which should help the economy get back on track earlier than expected.

According to the Bank of Ghana inter-bank rates, the Ghanaian Cedi began the year 2021 at GHC 5.7631 [January 4th, 2021] against the US Dollar and is currently selling at GHC 5.7340 [May 10th, 2021] indicating a 0.50% year-to-date appreciation. Similarly, on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Ghanaian Cedi traded at GHC 5.8885 [January 4th, 2021] and is currently trading at GHC 5.7699 [May 10th, 2021], representing a 2.01% year-to-date appreciation of the Cedi against the US Dollar.