Currency News for August 30, 2021

The Ghana Cedi remained under pressure as it began the week nursing losses across the board against its three major trading partner currencies on the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform. The Cedi has in recent times come under intense pressure retreating from a 2021 year high of +0.60% against the Dollar into the negative territories.

The continuous and sustained pressure on the local currency seems to have mounted pressure on Ghana’s central bank to revise its target amount for its bi-weekly forex forward rates auctions. The BoG has over the past month increased its target from USD 25.0 million to USD 50.0 million and later to USD 75.0 million in its latest auctions. This comes on the back of Ghana’s improved foreign reserves which is expected to receive a further boost from a USD 1.0 billion facility from the IMF as part of the Special Drawing Rights program.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi plummeted by 0.28%, 0.55%, and 0.79% to open the week trading at GHC 5.8531, GHC 8.0539, and GHC 6.9049 from last week’s opening trade values of GHC 5.8365, GHC 8.0100, and GHC 6.8509 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The greenback extended its week-on-week gains against the Cedi for the fifteenth consecutive time as concerns about the global spread of Delta-variant, alongside signs that the US Federal Reserve could start asset tapering later in the year boosted the Dollar’s appeal.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi gained by 0.06% to trade at GHC 6.0444 at the start of the week from last week’s open trading figure of GHC 6.0483 against the Dollar. Against the Pound and the Euro, the Cedi plunged by 0.48% and 0.54% to trade at GHC 8.3179 and GHC 7.1323 at the start of the week from last week’s opening trade values of GHC 8.2779 and GHC 7.0943 respectively. Data from the Eurozone which showed that consumer confidence remained dampened on the back of concerns about the outlook of the bloc’s economy failed to raise the local currency against the Euro.

According to the BoG 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 5.8531 [August 30th, 2021] indicating a 1.56% year-to-date (ytd) depreciation. 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 6.0444 [August 30th, 2021], representing a 2.65% ytd depreciation against the US Dollar.