Currency News for October 11, 2021

Despite increasing support by Ghana’s central bank, the Ghana Cedi began the week nursing losses against the Dollar as growing demand for forex surpasses supplies in the currency space. The Cedi similarly lost steam against the Pound after it failed to build on last week’s gains on both the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform and the Open Forex Market (oanda.com).

The Cedi’s performance comes after the BoG reaffirmed its continued support for the local currency by selling USD 50.0 million in a forex forward rates auction as against the initially projected USD 25.0 million offer amount. A strong reserve position which currently stands at 5.2 months of import cover as of August and is further expected to receive a boost from a USD 1.5 billion cocoa syndicated loan agreement will be expected to sustain the Cedi going into the festive season.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi traded lower by 0.03% and 0.14% to open the week quoted at GHC 5.8717 and GHC 7.9961 from last week’s opening trade values of GHC 5.8702 and GHC 7.9847 against the Dollar and the Pound respectively. The Dollar built on its gains against the Cedi as surging energy prices prompted investors to take solace in safe havens. Against the Euro, the Cedi maintained a firm footing as it accumulated an additional 0.35% after last week’s 0.24% surge. It traded at GHC 6.7948 at the start of the week against last week’s quote of GHC 6.8187.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi similarly depreciated against the Dollar and the Euro but recorded gains against the single currency. It traded at GHC 6.0742 and GHC 8.2772 on the first trading day of the week against last week’s opening trade values of GHC 6.0682 and GHC 8.2434 representing a depreciation of 0.10% and 0.41% respectively against the Dollar and the Pound. The Pound recovered parts of its last week’s dip against the Cedi on growing expectations that the Bank of England could raise interest rates earlier than expected to curb inflation. The Cedi traded at GHC 7.0263 against the Euro after gaining 0.31% to climb from last week’s GHC 7.0481 opening trade figure.

According to the BoG inter-bank rates, the Ghana Cedi began the year 2021 at GHC 5.7631 [January 4th, 2021] against the US Dollar and is currently quoted at GHC 5.8717 [October 11, 2021] indicating a 1.88% 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 6.0742 [October 11, 2021], representing a 3.15% ytd depreciation against the US Dollar.